




t^-hf^if^- 




Published bv 

•The Farm Journal 

Philadelphia 




Class _S_f2:lX 

Book ^^__ 

Copyright N" 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



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HORSE 
SECRETS 



WRITTEN. COMPILED AND NOW 
DISCLOSED 



BY 



Af S. ALEXANDER 

Profesior of Veterin»ry Science, and in charge of the Department of 

Hone Breeding, College of Agriculture, Univeraity 

of Wiiconsin. 



ALAS ! HE CANNOT TALK I 

"I don' see much u«e in de scientis' folks study- 
ing monkey talk, but a study of hoss talk dat 'ud 
let de animal tell all about hisse'f befo' a trade 
comes off 'ud save a heap o' hard feelings." 

"Uncle Ezra." in Washington Star. 



PHILADELPHIA— 1909 

WILMER ATKINSON COMPANY 

Price. 25 Cents 



fc^ 



^^^v^ 



Copyright, 1909 
WiLMER Atkinson Co. 



) CI. A 251 015 



INTRODUCTION 



Dr. A. S. Alexander, the writer and compiler of " Horse Secrets,' 
has had upward of 25 years' experience in matters pertaining to agri- 
culture, horse breeding, veterinary science, press writing and teaching. 
He was the author of the first stallion service legislation and inspec- 
tion regulation in America, the first law of the kind having been 
written by him and enacted by the Wisconsin Legislature in 1905. 
Similar legislation now is in force in some 16 other states, and it is 
accomplishing much for the improvement of horse breeding. 

Horse trading offers unusual opportunities and temptations for 
sharp practises. Both buyer and seller equally need to be horse-wise 
and alert. Dishonesty is discountenanced in the great horse markets, 
but it is common among scalpers, " gyps" and small traders outside 
of the recognized markets and is likely to be practised by either the 
buyer or the seller. 

The items published in these pages disclose many sharp practises 
which, aside from their interest as facts not generally known, are 
valuable as information for the man who would engage intelligently 
in horse buying and selling. 

The writer and publishers of this book desire to expose these 
tricks, and to decry their practise in the markets and among outside 
dealers and breeders. "Forewarned is forearmed," and the infor- 
mation here given will doubtless save many a man from loss, and 
tend to make dishonesty less rife because less likely to succeed. 

In mentioning the various tricks herein disclosed, the exact 
methods have not been given in detail. We have no desire to in- 
struct readers so that they may " go and do likewise"; for the same 
reason doses have not been given for the administration of the various 
drugs and " dopes " used by tricksters. 

The matter relating to the purchase of stallions should prove 
specially interesting and valuable. It is a matter of general knowl- 
edge among the initiated that stallions are frequently sold at exces- 
sive prices to companies of farmers, and that "peddlers" of such 
stallions are unscrupulous in their methods of obtaining signers to 
the notes taken for the purchase of such horses. The facts published 
with respect to this business should serve to warn farmers that they 
are apt to be cheated in purchasing a stallion on the "company 
plan," and that it is always best, safest and most profitable to pur- 
chase a stallion direct from a reputable breeder or importer, for by 
so doing much money will be saved and the horse bought will be 
much more likely to prove sound and suitable and to give satisfaction. 

Dr. Alexander desires in this place to acknowledge his indebted- 
ness to the publishers of the various farm and stock papers from the 
pages of which extracts have been taken. 

WILMER ATKINSON CO. 



4 HORSE SECRETS 

Contents. 

Page 

HORSE FEEDING SECRETS 7 

Secret of Hand Raising a Foal 7 

Secret of Feeding Silage to Horses 8 

Secret of Fattening Drafters 9 

Secret of Feeding Molasses 10 

SECRETS OF VARIOUS VICES 12 

Secret of Stopping Halter Pulling 12 

Secret of Preventing Mules from Kicking 13 

Secret of Tj-ing a Mare with a Foal 13 

Secret of Handling a Balky Horse 13 

Secret of Curing a Stall Kicker 16 

SECRET TRICKS IN HORSE TRADING 18 

Secret of Shutting a Heaver 18 

Secret of Plugging a Roarer 18 

Diamond Cut Diamond 19 

Making a Horse Act Mean 20 

Blowing Air Under the Skin 20 

Stopping a Switcher 20 

Turpentine and Gasoline Tricks 21 

Gingering a Show Horse 21 

Unnerving and Cocaining 22 

Keep an Eye on the Sign Board 22 

Secret of Hiding a Spavin 23 

Artificially Induced Knee Action 23 

Artificial Tail Trick 24 

Keeping a Horse "In the Air" 24 

The Loose Shoe Trick 25 

Wire Marks Over Side-Bones 25 

Wedging a Cribber 25 

Making an Artificial Star 26 

Black Spots on a White Horse 2."^ 

Broken Crest or Wrong Lying Mane 2"} 

Concealing Discharging Sinuses 27 

The Galloping Past Dodge 28 

Keeping a Horse on Edge 28 

An Eye for An Eye 28 

Examine the Ears 29 

Bishoping — An Old Trick 30 

How Bishoping is Done 30 

MISCELLANEOUS SECRETS 32 

The Widow Trick 32 

Landing a Sucker 33 



HORSE SECRETS 5 

MISCELLANEOUS SECRETS— Continued. Page 

A Horse That Was Right There 34 

An Honest "Hoss" Dealer 34 

A Sharper's Smooth Sayings 35 

The Winter Board Trick 35 

How Horses Catch Cold 36 

Tricks in Measuring Horses 36 

SECRETS ABOUT STALLION SELLING 37 

Palming Off a Grade Stallion 37 

Stud Books Approved by the Government 38 

Stud Books Not Certified by the Government 39 

Story of a Company Stallion Deal 39 

Horse Peddlers' Confessions 41 

The Sale of Les Epinards 41 

The Sale of Transmigrator 42 

SOME VETERINARY SECRETS 44 

Secret of Preventing Navel and Joint Disease 44 

Symptoms of Bad Teeth 45 

Remedies for Tail Rubbing 45 

A Cruel Cure for Heaves 46 

An Astringent for Scours 47 

An Old Operation for Spavin 47 

Facts About Pigment Tumors 48 

SECRETS OF BUYING AND SELLING HORSES 49 

Auction Sale Rules 49 

Reputable Dealers Protect Their Patrons 50 

Two Sides to a Horse 51 

A little 111 to Distract Attention From a Big One 52 

Beware of Hoof Dressing 52 

Buying a Pair 53 

A High English Guarantee 53 

An Unsound Horse Sometimes a Good Bargain 54 

A Second-Hand Horse 54 

"Protecting" the Buyer 55 

Splitting the Profit Three Ways 55 

A Glossary of Market Terms 56 



HORSE SECRETS 



Horse Feeding Secrets. 



Secret of Hand Raisini^ a Toal. 

AN orphan foal can be successfully raised on cows' milk 
if the work is intelligently and patiently conducted. 
Mares' milk is sweeter than cows' milk, but less rich 
in butter fat; therefore, in using cows' milk for foal 
feeding, choose that which is poor in butter fat — 
3 per cent, or thereabout — and sweeten it with sugar or 
molasses. The latter sweetening has the advantage of acting 
as a mild aperient. 

It should be remembered that the first milk (colostrum) 
of the mare contains a purgative principle for the removal 
of the meconium from the intestinal tract of the foal, and as 
the orphan foal does not receive this natural cathartic it is 
apt to suffer from constipation, which may prove fatal. To 
prevent this inject into the rectum of the foal, twice daily 
from birth, two or three ounces of warm water containing 
one to two teaspoonfuls of glycerine, and continue this treat- 
ment until the bowels have been moved freely. 

A mixture of equal quantities of cream, molasses and 
warm water also makes a good injection fluid for a young 
foal, and some horsemen insert a small, thin tallow-dip candle 
into the rectum for a like purpose. 

At first the foal should be fed once an hour, but 
gradually the times of feeding may be reduced in number. 
Feed the milk blood warm, giving at first half a cupful at 
each meal and with it three tablespoonfuls of lime water to 
the pint of milk. The foal will take the milk readily from a 
large rubber nipple fitted on the neck of a feeding bottle which 
must be often well scalded. A kid glove thumb perforated 
and fitted over the spout of a small teapot will do almost as 
well as a rubber nipple and feeding bottle. 

Hand-fed foals tend to scour. When such trouble starts 
withhold two or more feeds of milk, and give one to four 
tablespoonfuls of castor oil in milk, according to the severity 
of the attack and the size of the foal, and repeat the dose every 
time there is any derangement of the digestive organs. 

Soon the foal may be fed but six times a dav, then four 
times, and in a few weeks it will freely take milk and lime 



8 HORSE SECRETS 

water from a clean pail. At this stage sugar may be omitted 
and the lime water be given only once a day. The secret of 
success is to feed a little milk often and to keep all utensils 
scrupulously sweet and clean. As soon as he will take to it, 
the foal may be allowed to lick oatmeal in small quantities; 
gradually increase the amount and add wheat bran. After 
six weeks give a little sweet skim-milk in place of a part of 
the new milk, and by increasing the amount day by day the 
foal may at three months old take skim-tnilk entirely and 
continue to drink it freely three or four times daily while 
eating grass, grain and bran. 



Secret of Feeding Silage to Horses. 

It is commonly believed that corn silage cannot safely 
or profitably be fed to horses. Investigation shows that this 
belief is ill advised, for some horsemen feed silage successfully. 

A noted Wisconsin breeder has used corn silage exten- 
sively as a feed for horses as a part of the winter ration during 
the past •eighteen years. The number wintered each year 
averages about lOO. His method is as follows: 

In making silage for horses the corn is allowed to stand 
until nearly out of the milk, as better results have thus been 
obtained than when it is cut greener. The silo is filled as 
rapidly as possible, and when full is allowed to settle for four 
or five days, when it is again filled. Care is taken to pack 
the silage tightl}^ around the walls. 

The silo is opened about November 15th, when the herds 
have been brought in from the pastures. Care is taken to 
feed the horses lightly at first so that they may become 
accustomed to the new food. 

A large bin has been built, connecting with a room below 
the doors of the silo. This bin is filled from time to time 
with a mixture of four parts of hay and one of strawy cut 
about 3 inches long, by being run through a silage machine. 
The silage is always mixed with this cut hay and straw before 
feeding. The proportions are about one to five of silage by 
weight. By cutting the hay and straw, the amount wasted is 
reduced to a minimum. 

The corn is never taken out of the silo before it is ready 
to be used. The entire top is removed each day to a depth 
of about two inches. Any silage that is spoilt is thrown away. 
The silage and hay-straw are mixed thoroughly by forking 
over several times in the room, already referred to. By doing 
this the horses do not obtain all the silage at one time. Any 
grain that is fed is put in the manger with the silage. 



HORSE SECRETS 9 

The amount of ensilage fed to different horses varies with 
the animal. It is found that no two horses eat the same 
amount and they are never given more than they will eat. 
The average amount fed will be stated in each case below. 

Aged stallions, used for breeding purposes, receive during 
the winter season about 24 pounds of silage per day. This 
is divided into three feeds, morning, noon and night. Besides 
this they are fed long hay and grain. During the breeding 
season they do not get any silage, as it has been found that 
if it is fed at that time there is difficulty in getting mares in 
foal and in raising a large percentage of colts. The reason for 
this is not known. 

Two-year old stallions receive about 20 pounds of silage 
per day with their other feed. Yearling stallions receive about 
15 pounds, with grain and hay. Mares with foals receive about 
20 pounds, and also grain and hay while the colts are sucking. 
This is reduced to about 15 pounds, fed twice a day in the 
stable, after the colts are weaned. 

Mares and geldings, from one year up, run in a herd 
together. They are fed morning and night about 15 pounds 
per day. During the day, if weather permits, they are turned 
out in a pasture and fed hay upon the ground. 

Colts, soon after they have learned to eat grain, are fed 
a little silage in the box stalls with their mothers. For this 
purpose small feed boxes are put in each stall near the 
mangers, where the mares eat. After being weaned the colts 
are fed about 7 pounds of silage a dav with the grain. Alfalfa 
hay also is put in a rack in the yard, in which the colts are 
turned out each day, and they eat as much of this as they 
care for. 

The ration fed is higher than a balanced ration. There 
has never been any sickness resulting from the use of silage. 
The animals always come through the winter in good breeding 
condition and in proper shape to be turned on to pasture in 
the spring. 

Secret of Fattening Drafters. 

The business of buying young draft horses and feeding 
them off for the market has been profitably followed by many 
farmers during the past ten years. The work requires skill 
and experience and is thus described by Prof. W. J. 
Kennedy, of the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station: "In 
one of the large horse-feeding establishments of the West 
the following method is practised: The horses are purchased, 
their teeth are floated and they are all put in the 
barn and their feed increased gradually, as great care 
must be taken for a few davs to avoid colic. It seems 



lO HORSE SECRETS 

preferable to feed them grain about five times per day, due to 
the fact that as the stomach of the horse is proportionately- 
smaller than the stomach of a cow, he needs his feed in smaller 
quantities and more often. The hay is placed in racks so 
that access may be had to it at all times. The horses are given 
all the water they will drink twice a day. The daily practise 
is as follows : Corn is given at 5 o'clock in the morning; water 
at 7; the hay racks are filled at 9 o'clock, when the horses are 
also given oats and bran, the proportion being two-thirds 
bran and one-third oats. At 12 o'clock they are fed corn 
again; at 3 in the afternoon oats and bran are given and the 
hay racks are refilled; at 4 they are given a second watering, and 
at 6 the final feed of corn is given. The proportion for each 
horse when upon full feed is as follows: Corn from 10 to 14 
ears to each feed ; oats and bran, about 3 quarts per feed, mak- 
ing in all from 30 to 40 ears of corn and 6 quarts of oats and 
bran per horse per day. The horses are not given any exercise 
from the time they are put in the barn until a few days before 
they are to be shipped. As a substitute for exercise, and in 
order to keep the blood in good order, thus preventing stocked 
legs, Glauber's salt is used. 

In some instances horses fed in this manner have made a 
gain of 5^ pounds a day for a period of 50 to 100 days. One 
horse gained 550 pounds in 100 days. In many instances from 
12 to 20 horses have made an average daily gain of 3 1-3 pounds 
per day each for a period of 90 days. 



Secret of Feeding Molasses. 

The feeding of black strap molasses came into vogue 
when the United States artillery and cavalry horses in Porto 
Rico required "plumping up." By free use of this readily 
assimilated fattening food mixed with cut hay or grass, horses 
that had run down to skin and bone and become covered 
with harness sores quickly gained flesh and acquired sleek, 
polished, sound hides so that their former drivers or riders 
failed to recognize them. Although large quantities of molasses 
were fed to each horse daily, neither colic nor scouring was 
caused. 

Dr. W. H. Dalrymple, veterinarian of the Louisiana 
Experiment Station, says that the amount of molasses fed 
to the large sugar-mules of 42 plantations in his state is from 
8 to 12 pounds per head per diem, or an average of about 9.5 
pounds ; a gallon of black strap molasses weighing 12 pounds. 
He advises that less than this should be given at first and 
gradually increased as the animals get used to it, though he 
adds: "We have not experienced any ill efifects from feeding 



HORSE SECRETS II 

the amounts alluded to." In fact, as high as 21 pounds per 
day has been fed in Louisiana without any untoward results. 
The molasses is mixed with concentrates and cut hay. 

Here is a recommended formula for molasses feeding on 
a lesser scale to working draft horses : 

Molasses, i quart ; water, 3 quarts ; cut hay, 5 pounds ; 
corn-meal, 4 quarts ; coarse bran, 2 pints. Feed morning and 
night. Give usual quantity of oats at noon, and add long 
hay at night. 

The Department of Agriculture, in Farmer's Bulletin No. 
107, states that molasses is an excellent food for horses and 
cattle. It produces energy, maintains the vital heat, stimulates 
the appetite and increases the digestibility of the other con- 
stitutents of the ration. That cane molasses is a satisfactory 
substitute for starchy foods, being readily digested and 
transformed into work: that 5 quarts of molasses can be 
given daily to a 1,270 pound horse with advantage to its 
health and the efficiency of its work. 



fflHi IfflirTBWIr 



12 HORSE SECRETS 



Secrets of Various Vices. 



Secret of Stopping Halter Pulling. 

There are many different ways of managing halter pullers 
and of these the following methods seem most effective: 

Take a strong but thin rope about 20 feet long. Put the 
middle of it under the horse's tail like a crupper. Bring the 
two ends forward along the back, knotting them together at 
the loins and withers. Then pass one on each side of the neck, 
through the ring of the halter and tie to the manger along 
with the halter shank. 

Pass the end of tie rope or halter over the manger 
and tie it to one fore foot, so that the pull is equal on the 
head and foot. This is simple, safe and efficient. 

Put a good strong halter on the horse with a rope that 
he cannot break ; then put him either on a plank floor that is 
about 4 inches higher behind than in front, or on a hard 
earth floor of the same slope. Have the floor very smooth, 
and wet it a little to make it slippery, if he is a bad one, and 
pad the sides of the stall with old sacks or blankets, tying them 
on with binder twine. As soon as the horse finds that he 
cannot keep his feet he will give up pulling. 

Use a good halter and 10 or 12 feet of strong rope or 
strap. Tie one end of the rope around the pastern of a front 
foot and pass the other end through the halter ring and fasten 
to a stout post or manger and let the horse pull. This will 
cure an ordinary case. If it does not cure a bad one, tie the 
rope to a hind leg, passing it through the halter ring and 
between the fore legs to the hind pastern. 

Tie a rope around the hind leg at the pastern and pass 
the rope to the opposite side of the body; run it around the 
neck where the collar rests and tie the foot up so that it will 
not touch the floor. Put a good halter on the horse and he 
will not pull very hard. 

Mr. J. S. Teesdale, of Multnomah County, Oregon, 
contributed the following amusing account of the curing of 
a halter puller to the Breeders' Gazette: "I owned a horse 
that pulled back every time he was tied up in or out of his 
stable. I got very tired of it. I took him one day to a wharf 
over a river. There was, as is usual, a wall on the dock a 



HORSE SECRETS I3 

few feet from its edge. I led him on so that his face was 
near the wall and his tail toward the water ; and I stood him 
with his right side close up to a partition that ran from the 
wall to the edge of the wharf. I stood with my body close 
to his left eye, hiding the river from his view, so that he could 
not see the water from either side. The river was a very 
silent one. I held him in that position almost an hour until 
I thought he had forgotten the river entirely, then I tied 
him to a ring in the wall, holding a sharp knife in my teeth 
as I did so. As soon as I had tied him he hung back as 
badly as ever. I cut the rope. He turned a back somersault 
and dropped lo feet into the river. When he came to the 
surface and recovered from his daze, he swam down stream 
to the end of the dock and landed. He never hung back again 
so far as I know, although he was tied a thousand times." 



Secret of Preventing Mules from Kicking. 

Mr. F. M. Walker, of Vernon County, Missouri, contrib- 
uted the following to the columns of the Breeders' Gazette: 
"Take two straps i^ inches wide with a good ring; have the 
straps long enough to buckle around the hind legs, one above 
the hock and one below. First buckle the ring in both straps ; 
then take a stout rope, put a ring in the rope, and tie it 
around the breast of the collar so that the double will come 
back behind the belly-band and make the ring stay. Now 
take another piece of stout rope, tie in the ring on the hind leg, 
bring it up through ring at the belly-band and back to the 
other ring on the hind leg. Do not leave any slack for the 
horse or mule to get his feet over. An animal can walk or 
trot in this rigging, but he cannot kick. I have broken several 
mules in this way." 

Tying a Mare With a Foal. 

To tie a mare so that her foal will not get hung in the 
halter strap, use a ring in the manger instead of a hole. Thirty 
inches is plenty long enough for the stale. Put a weight on 
end of the stale — an old bar shoe will do all right. All good 
horses in Great Britain are tied this way, except that the chain 
is used. 

Secret of Handling a Balky Horse. 

A tired, balky horse is less apt to balk than one fresh 
from the stable, and such horses are oftentimes kept in harness 



14 HORSE SECRETS 

right up to the time of sale. This is a "David Harum" trick 
and well wortn remembering. Also, when a horse balks, be 
careful to examine his shoulders. Soreness of the skin may 
be the cause. It is a trick of the "gyps" secretly to bathe the 
shoulders of a horse with an irritating solution which in 12 
hours or less makes the animal refuse to pull in harness. They 
do this with horses on which they purpose making a bid the 
following day in the hope that when the victim balks the 
owner will become disgusted and discount the price. Some 
horses balk when worked in single harness but go all right 
when hitched double. Chloroform is sometimes used to make 
a balky horse stupid, so that he will forget to balk. 

Kindness, petting, coaxing with a lump of sugar, carrot, 
apple or other dainty sometimes succeeds with a balky horse 
when harsh measures fail. Cruel procedures should be dis- 
countenanced and punished and among these the worst trick, 
perhaps, is to start a fire of paper, straw or brush under the 
balker. Sometimes all that is necessary is to distract the 
animal's attention by pounding lightly with a stone on the 
shoe of a fore foot, by tying a cord around the leg under the 
knee, or by holding up one foot for a few minutes. 

When a horse balks, one way of curing him is to remove 
the harness, put on a halter, pull his head around to his side 
and tie the halter rope in a slip-knot to a strand or two of the 
tail hair, so as to keep the head well toward the tail. Then 
he is forced to walk around in a circle until he staggers and 
is ready to drop, when the rope may be loosed and the horse 
will be likely to behave and remember the lesson for some time. 

Some horses balk by lying down and refusing to budge. 
If the four feet of such a sulker are "hog-tied" together and he 
is abandoned and allowed to remain tied for an hour or two, 
he will usually be thankful to get up and go on when set 
at liberty. 

One owner broke a balker by working him on a mower 
for a few days with his tail tied to the singletree tight enough 
to take part of the strain. After that he would pull by the 
tugs without having his tail tied. 

The "guy rope" plan is sometimes effective. A small rope 
is tied around the horse's neck and a half hitch taken with 
it on his lower jaw. A husky man then pulls steadily upon 
the rope and the horse will usually start forward with a lunge. 
If not a confirmed old balker he may give up the standing 
habit if treated in this way a few times. 

Light, rapid switching across the nose with a light whip 
sometimes starts a balker, but severe whipping has an opposite 
efifect. 

The writer once was called to see a draft work-mare 
that was "down" in an Irish teamster's yard and refused to 



HORSE SECRETS I5 

get up. The poor brute was surrounded with whips and sticks 
that had been broken over her back, and her body was covered 
with welts from the whipping. The neighbors thronged 
around to see what would happen when the "Doctor" tried 
his hand at a job which had baffled their attempts. Examina- 
tion of the pulse showed a normal condition and the mem- 
branes of the eyes gave no indication of sickness. After the 
mare's head and neck had been patted and stroked for a few 
minutes, and she had been spoken to kindly and gently, she 
got up at once when the halter was pulled upon and the word 
of command given. Then she followed the veterinarian about 
the yard like a dog, recognizing him as her only friend, and 
ever since that teamster has said, "Sure that mon has the 
power iv healin' in his hands!" Whereas, the abused mare 
only needed and wanted a little kindness and coaxing. 

Here is a cure for balking recommended by E. A. Gerrard: 
"In order to break a balky horse it is necessary to have 
the appliances, though the first requirement is a cool head. 
Next you will want a steady horse to hitch with the balky 
one, together with a strong hopple strap, a rope and a covered 
swivel pulley, and a good harness and wagon with a long 
tongue, though one of ordinary length will do. 

Fasten your pulley on the end of the tongue so that it 
will work free; put the hopple on the balky horse's hind ankle, 
next to the tongue, and tie the rope in the hopple ring. Now 
run it through the belly-band, up through the pulley and back 
to the end of the doubletree on the side of the balky horse, 
and tie it fast. See that your horses are standing even, making 
the rope snug, so that the horse can stand easy. Take off 
your stay chains, sever the line from the terrets on the balky 
horse, get into the wagon, gather your lines so that you can 
have control, keep cool, and wait half a minute ; then speak to 
the team and start the steady horse. As he starts he pulls 
his end of the doubletree forward and draws on the wagon, the 
other end of the doubletree going back, pulling the rope through 
the pulley and lifting the balky horse's foot. He tries to put 
his foot down and in doing so he takes a step. 

Say, 'whoa !' and stop your steady horse. Do not let the 
balky horse make more than one step. Now sit still for half 
a minute, then start again, stopping as soon as the first step 
is made, by the same process. Sit still for another half minute, 
then repeat. Each time you will have taught your horse that 
when you told him to go he had to step. 

Now if you are a horseman get down, go to your horse's 
head, pat his neck, tell him he is doing well and that he will 
be the best pulling horse on the place. Then try him again. 
If he is very anxious to go at the word, let him make six or 
eight steps, then stop and sit quiet for half a minute. Gradu- 



l6 HOKSE SECRETS 

ally increase the distance you allow them to g-o each time, not 
forgetting to stop long enough to allay any excitement before 
starting again. When you have driven half a mile be sure 
you are back at the stable, take your horse out, have a bottle 
of strong borax water at hand and bathe his ankle for five 
minutes where the hopple rubbed it. 

On the next day hitch up with the balker on the other 
side of the tongue. With most balky horses two lessons 
will prove enough ; often one will answer. But if the horse 
is old he may forget in two or three weeks, if rested much, 
so you will need to keep your appliances ready and put them 
on at the first sign of balking. 

There is little danger of a horse forgetting if he is worked 
with the same mate and driver; therefore if you want a perfect 
job you will do well to change the driver and the mate while 
the lesson is fresh." 

Mr. F. H. Osburn, of Benton County, Indiana, is the 
author of the following method of handling a balky mare : 

"I had a good true horse to put beside this mare, one 
which I knew could pull two such as she. Then instead of 
putting a stay chain to my true horse I put on what I call a 
stay rope, looping it around the balky mare's tail, drawing 
it up short and tying it to the other horse's hame ring. When- 
ever I spoke to my true puller something else had to come 
although the balky mare was not very hasty to respond for 
the first few lessons. We now have her convinced and I 
drive her single, ride her when driving cattle, can use the 
cattle whip over her, and she pays no attention to it. At 
times she runs idle for a week or ten days, but she never gives 
me a minute's bother when I use her again." 



Secret of Curing a Stall Kicker. 

Various methods have been proposed from time to time 
for stopping a horse from kicking in the stall. Here are 
several gleaned from various sources: 

Strap a piece of chain, about i8 inches to 2 feet in length, 
to the horse's pastern so that it will fly back and hit him 
each time he kicks. A trace or stay chain will do. 

Pad the sides of the stall thickly with hay or straw kept 
in place by sacking. When the horse kicks at this and does 
not hear the sound of his foot striking the boards, he will be 
scared and quit kicking. 

Buckle a leather surcingle around the horse's body back 
of the fore legs and to it fasten a small double pulley placed 
under the belly. Now place straps with buckles on them on 
each of his legs below the fetlock joint, having a ring in each 



HORSE SECRETS I7 

Strap. Take ^ inch rope, tie to the ring on one front foot, 
run it up through the pulley, back to the hind foot on the 
opposite side and tie, then do the same with the opposite feet. 
Leave the rope long enough for the animal to step. When 
an attempt is made to kick, the pulley raises the front feet. 
Use this in the stable until the kicking habit is cured. 

To cure a barn kicker pack an ordinary grain bag tight 
with hay or straw and suspend it from top of the stall by a 
rope or strap, so that it will swing free from the side of the 
stall and near the place the horse strikes the boards when he 
kicks. When kicked the bag will swing back and hit the horse 
on its return trip, and he will climb into the hay mow. if he 
can. If the horse kicks with both feet, hang a bag on each side. 

Tie the kicking horse between swinging partitions 
whether in a single or box stall. The partition kicks back 
each time it is kicked by the horse. 

An "Old Tinier" writing in the Breeders' Gazette, sug- 
gests the following plan for a pregnant mare that is a bad 
kicker: 

"Have a collar made of i J/2 inch first-class heavy harness 
leather, long enough to go around the mare's neck at the 
point where tli^e collar fits, with i-)4 "ich ring at the breast, 
then get a strap 1)4 inches wide, the full length of a side of 
harness leather, cut tapering to i inch or less at the tip of 
the light end, with i^ inch ring in the other. Then get a 
2^ inch strap just long enough to go around the pastern of 
the hind foot with ^ inch ring in each end. Have the edges 
of this strap slightly champered. Slip the collar on the mare's 
neck, put the short strap around the pastern of the left hind 
foot, the thin long strap through the rings on the pastern, 
then through the ring on the end of the long strap, and slip 
up snug and tight; next, run the strap between the fore legs 
and through the ring in the collar on the neck. Now draw 
it up snug when she is standing in her natural position and 
secure it with a slip-knot so that it can be easily removed 
when necessary. 

There will be no excitement about this, and no punish- 
ment. It does not interfere with the mare's lying down or 
getting up ; all it will do for her will be to prevent her from 
kicking, simply because she cannot, and she will soon learn 
to live in peace with her stable mates. We have used this 
for many years without a failure, and we would be pleased 
to have all humane horsemen use it in preference to a long 
chain or heavy swinging block or padded stall." 



I8 HORSE SECRETS 



Secret Tricks in Horse Trading. 



Secret of Shutting a He&ver. 

Heaves or broken wind more commonly perhaps than any- 
other unsoundness, offers opportunity and necessity for 
skilful handling by the trickster in horse dealing. There are 
numerous plans for the temporary relief of this disease, and 
so skilfully is the work done that often it is not suspected 
or discovered under twenty-four hours following a purchase. 
The "patient" receives no bulky food and all feed is wetted. 
Sometimes ammonia water is used in sprinkling the hay, and the 
observant buyer may detect this by the odor. Lime water or 
a solution of baking soda also is frequently used. An 
examination of the bit may show that it has been "medicated"; 
and allowing the horse to drink all the water he wants will be 
likely to disclose the heaves when he is made to gallop or pull 
a load. A pint of whiskey well diluted with water given as 
a drench also will be likely quickly to offset the effect of drugs. 

It is not the province of this book to furnish formulae of 
the mixtures or medicines used to "dope" or "shut" heavey 
horses, but rather to put the buyer on his guard so that fore- 
warned he may be forearmed. Therefore, the following 
"dopes" employed for dishonest purposes are mentioned : 

Arsenic, stramonium, lobelia, indigo, chloral hydrate, 
opium, melted lard, lead shot, raw eggs, milk, fresh ox blood, 
vinegar, kerosene, slaked lime in drinking water, etc., and in 
olden days a fistulous opening was made in connection with 
the rectum for the free and silent passage of gas. 

If the buyer is allowed twenty-four hours in which to 
reject a horse, heaves, if present, will usually show up in that 
time if the horse is. given an abundance of drinking water and 
bulky food and then is put to work. 



Secret of Plu^^in^ a Roarer. 

It is well to examine the horse's nostrils when making a 
purchase, otherwise he may sneeze out one or more sponges 
on arriving at his new home. The sponges are inserted to 



HORSE SECRETS 19 

prevent a "roarer" from making a noise when breathing. This 
is also accomplished by fastening a spring truss to the nose 
band of the bridle in such a way that it causes pressure upon 
the false nostrils and so lessens the intake of air when the 
horse is in motion. 

Sponges even of fine quality clog with mucus if 1-eft in 
place too long. Dealers tie fine cords to the sponges and 
by this means pull them out of the nostrils as soon as the 
horse is sold. Another plan is to cut off the ends of a lemon, 
squeeze it dry and then insert it in the nostril. It is left there 
with impunity as it will soon dry out, shrivel and be sneezed 
out of the nostril. 

Another trick is to pack the horse's sheath with oakum 
to prevent unpleasant noises when he is trotting; and the 
vagina of a lacerated (gill flirt) mare may be similarly treated 
for a like reason. Laceration of the perineum, an accident 
occurring at parturition, is usually incurable, hence the impor- 
tance of making a careful examination when buying a mare. 



Diamond Cut Diamond. 

It is not always at the time of making a sale that the 
■"gyp" practises sharp tricks. When occasion offers he has 
been known purposely to depreciate the value of a horse he 
wishes to buy. If he can make it appear that Ihe horse is 
lame, sick, broken-winded, weak eyed or balky he may acquire 
him at a discount, and he has secret methods of accomplish- 
ing his dishonest ends. A fine wire or cord tied around the 
pastern soon causes symptoms simulating those of founder; 
or the horse limps painfully after a horse-hair has by means 
of a needle been passed through a certain part of his leg, or 
when a small nail has been driven into the foot or a gravel 
or bean put under the shoe. A horse will stop eating and so 
appear sick when tallow has been smeared upon the roof of 
the mouth and inner side of the upper incisor teeth ; or refuse 
to pull when his shoulders and breast have been bathed with 
an irritating solution of corrosive sublimate, tincture of 
cantharides, or tartar emetic ; or seem to have glanders when 
fresh butter has been melted and poured in his ears ; or 
afflicted with eye disease when whole flaxseed has been 
chewed and rubbed on the eyes ; or he can be made fractious 
by an application of a caustic fluid. 

The owner should make a careful search for such 
causes of unsoundness should his horse mysteriously go 
wrong at the time when a trade is pending, and on recogniz- 
ing the possibility of a trick it is better to call the deal off 
than to discount the price. 



20 HORSE SECRETS 

Making a Horse Act Mean. 

When a "gyp" dealer learns that a farmer is having 
difficulty in training a high-strung young horse, he tries to 
buy him at a discount, and unless closely watched will try 
to make the horse act mean when examined. He asks the 
owner to harness or ride the horse, and diverting his attention 
for a moment, applies an irritating substance to the heels, 
or some other part of the animal, causing him to kick, plunge 
and attempt to run away. He calls his secret dope "dog water," 
"hop-up," "soup" or "fog," and its effect is intended so to 
disgust the horse owner that he will be glad to sell the frac- 
tious beast at a bargain. 

Often, should a buyer visit a scalper's stable in the city, 
he will be shown a fine-looking horse and attractive harness 
and wagon. The price asked for the horse and outfit is a low 
one, and the stranger jumps at the chance to acquire the 
property; but just as the horse is being hitched up, he begins 
to kick or behave badly vmder the influence of a dose of "soup." 
The intending bu3'er immediately suffers from "cold feet," 
and is readily induced to take an inferior horse. The fine horse 
and outfit are thus used times without number to attract 
buyers and assist in the sale of unattractive, cheap horses at 
profitable prices. 

Blowin|( Air Under the Skin. 

When the muscles of the shoulder have wasted away, 
constituting the condition termed "sweeny," air sometimes is 
blown under the skin to give the part a plump condition. This 
trick is easily detected, for when the hand is passed over the 
inflated part it crackles (crepitates) showing the presence of air 
under the skin (emphysema). The same trick is practised to 
make an old horse appear younger than he really is, the 
hollows over the eyes being blown up by means of a hollow 
needle, quill or straw passed through the skin. For low hip 
and atrophy of the shoulder muscles we have also known 
tricksters to inject a two per cent solution of phenol under 
the skin and then thoroughly massage the part. 



Stopping a Switcher. 

Apart from operating upon the muscles of the tail to prevent 
switching, which often is a bad vice in mares, dealers resort 
to the following trick : The tail is tied up over the horse's 
back as tightly as possible and left in that position over night. 



HORSE SECRETS 21 

It becomes so numbed by this treatment that the horse is 
unable to use it for half a day or so after it is let down. 

The switching habit is also mechanically prevented, when 
the mare is hitched, by fastening a strand of the hair or string 
from each side of the tail to a part of the breeching of harness. 

Tail switching is less likely to be noticed by the buyer if 
the tail is tied up or braided. Therefore, it is well to let the 
tail down for this and other reasons before deciding to buy 
the horse. 

The Turpentine and Gasoline Tricks. 

Temporarily to lessen or remedy the lameness of a foot- 
sore horse, turpentine heated to the boiling point is poured 
into the sole of the foot. It can be held there for five minutes 
by binding a bandage around the foot so that the turpentine 
cannot run down over the hoof-head. The buyer may readily 
detect this trick, as the odor of turpentine gives it away when 
the hoof is examined. 

It also is alleged that the following treatment is given for 
muscle soreness, caused by use over hard stones : The night 
before he wishes to sell the horse afifected in this way, the 
"gyp" dealer will pour gasoline over the withers, and let it 
flow down both shoulders and forearms. The gasoline con- 
tracts the capillaries and larger blood vessels and diminishes 
the blood pressure and nerve sensibility, thus allowing a nearly 
natural movement of the muscles. Of course as soon as the 
efifect of the gasoline passes away the soreness will return. If 
gasoline were rubbed on the muscles it would probably result 
in a blister. 

Gingering a Show Horse. 

As a preparation for the show ring contest, or before 
exhibiting a horse to a prospective buyer, it is almost the 
general practise to insert ginger root in the animal's rectum 
that the irritation produced thereby may cause it to carry 
a high tail and show spirit and action. 

While this objectionable practise obtains most as regards 
coach and carriage horses, it is also followed by exhibitors 
and sellers of draft stallions and mares, and of recent years 
has been practised extensively. Indeed the trick is becoming 
far too common, and we have even seen it boldly and flag- 
rantly practised in the judging ring to the disgust of all decent 
and fair-minded spectators. Possibly there may be some 
excuse for the practise as a means of setting a show or sale 



22 HORSE SECRETS 

horse "on edge," but if allowed at all it should at least be 
done in private and be absolutely prohibited as a public act 
in the show ring. We sincerely trust that managers of horse 
shows will take this view of the matter; and officers of the 
humane societies should see to it that horses are not exces- 
sively tortured in this way. While the grooms of some horse 
exhibitors use ginger in the judging ring, others pay some 
regard to the rules of decency by backing the horses into 
their stalls before showing so that the trick may be practised 
unnoticed by the visitors who throng the aisles of the horse 
barns. We have heard of such a plan being followed when 
preparing the entire string of coach horses of one owner for the 
evening exhibit at a great horse show. 



Unnerving and Cocaining. 

Chronic lameness is done away with by skilful oblitera- 
tion of the large nerves which supply the affected parts with 
sensation. The operation is termed nerving or unnerving in 
common parlance and, properly, as neurectomy. It consists 
in cutting down upon the nerve and then removing a portion 
so that its function is destroyed so far as the portion below 
the seat of operation is concerned. Unnerving is most often 
done to hide the lameness caused by navicular disease which is 
incurable: it may also be practised on account of ringbone, side- 
bone, founder or other unsoundness of the foot. After 
unnerving the horse does not evince pain when the parts 
below the seat of the operation are pinched or pricked. The 
operation merely does away with pain and lameness. It is 
in no way a cure. 

Cocaine or eucaine solution injected by means of a hypo- 
dermic syringe upon the nerves at the points where neurec- 
tomy would be performed will temporarily have an effect like 
that of the operation. Just after the injection a swollen or 
puffed place may be discovered at the point where the 
hypodermic needle was inserted, and local soreness may be 
present after the effects of the drug have subsided. 



Keep an Eye on the Si^n-Board. 

Dr. Hawley advises that when buying horses at auction 
one should watch the sign-board, as it may be suddenly 
shifted from "serviceably sound" to "wind and work." In such 
a case a horse slightly lame may be purchased with no chance 
of rejection. 



HORSE SECRETS 2$ 

Secret of Hiding a Spavin. 

It is an old ''gyp" trick to beat one hock-joint with a 
stick so that it will swell and acquire the same size as the 
hock unsound from spavin. Caustic solutions injected under 
the skin at the seat of spavin also smooth the appearance of 
the joint. 

If spavin is suspected, test for it by picking- up the hind 
foot and holding it toward the stifle for two or three minutes 
so as to tightly shut the hock-joint. Then drop the foot and 
instantly have the horse trotted. If spavin, apparent or hidden 
(occult), is present the horse will hop off on thr^ee legs, or go 
much lamer than before. 



Artificially Induced Knee Action. 

True knee action is an inborn trait in certain horses, 
such as those of the English hackney breed, and some families 
of American trotters ; but in many high-stepping horses, sold on 
the market, such action is unnatural, and has been acquired. The 
true knee actor flexes his hocks about as freely as he does his 
knees. This is the test: Watch a fashionable, high-gomg 
coacher, and if the action is not well balanced, and if the hind 
legs are imperfectly flexed, and seem to have difficulty in 
"keeping up with the procession," depend upon it that the 
horse has been trained to go as he does and easily may forget 
his lessons on leaving school. 

The "gyp" trick is to wet the hoof heads with turpentine, 
which sets up intense irritation and induces knee action. This 
is readily discovered by remembering to run the hands over 
the coronets when examining the horse, then noting if they 
smell of any drug. 

The horse trainer, on the other hand, develops high knee 
action by putting on heavy shoes, the toes being left long; 
by trotting and galloping the horse in plowed land, deep snow, 
or a deep bed of straw. He also frequently taps the legs 
back of the knees with a whip or light stick as the horse takes 
daily walking exercise. Soon the animal learns the trick of 
high stepping, and thus is ready to match with one of like 
kind and gait, for sale at a high figure to some rich man in 
the city. 

A coach horse with extraordinary high knee action was 
sold by a dealer to a city man for $400. In a few days the 
buyer returned the horse saying, "Sell him over again; you 
put him on me, now stick some one else with him.'* This 
horse had stringhalt in both fore legs which caused him to 
go high. 



24 HORSE SECRETS 

In buying a coach or hackney stallion or mare for breeding 
purposes, see to it that the high action is natural and not 
acquired or due to chorea, else the tendency to step high will 
not be transmitted to the progeny. 

The Artificial Tail Trick. 

Where a horse is bought without careful examination of 
the tail, it may transpire when too late for redress that the 
switching appendage has been joined on. We remember 
examining a fine, thoroughbred running horse that was to be 
used for saddle purposes. Everything passed scrutiny until 
we came to the tail, which was that of some other horse, 
nicely held in place by clamps. When it was removed it was 
found that the horse under examination possessed a mere 
vestigial stump of a tail — a regular shaving brush affair — and 
on that account the deal, like the tail, was all off. 

Draft and work horses are often offered with the tail 
braided and tied up. Where this is the case, the intending 
buyer should let the tail down and then he may find that a 
big foreign switch has been braided in with the scant supply 
of natural hair. 

The critical examination of the tail will also save the 
prospective purchaser from acquiring an animal afflicted with 
pigment tumors (see page 48), or one that is about to lose 
a portion of the tail by gangrene, due to keeping a cord too 
tightly and too long around the part when tied up in muddy 
weather, or while exposed for sale. 

Keeping a Horse "In the Air." 

The dealer tries to keep a horse "in the air" as much as 
possible when showing him to a prospective buyer, but the 
latter should be svire to examine the horse when he is "stand- 
ing at ease." Th-e object of keeping the horse rattled by 
cracking whips, shaking barn door latches, rattling a whip 
handle inside of a derby hat, whooping, yelHng, and chasing 
behind him, is to make him appear spirited, or to hide some 
lameness. Often the horse so treated has a spavin, the laming 
effects of which disappear with exercise, and this also is true 
if the horse has navicular disease or chorea. 

This absurd treatment of the horse is customary in the 
selling of a heavy draft stallion that has been so fattened, 
pampered and drugged that he is practically asleep half the 
time, and has to be waked up by strenuous means to give him 
an appearance of life. A naturally acute and wide-awake 
horse needs little urging. 



HORSE SECRETS 2$ 

The Loose Shoe Trick. 

When a horse is a poor mover, but stylish and likely to 
be a prize winner in the show ring, the owner tries to avoid 
putting him through his paces before the judges. A shoe 
is loosely tacked on, so that when the. horse is trotted it 
comes off, and the owner then blames imperfection of motion 
to the loss of the shoe. 

We remember a case in the judging ring where a stallion 
with notoriously poor, flat, brittle hoofs was being trotted 
out for inspection by the awarding committee. At the first 
trot out, off flew the shoe, carrying with it a goodly portion of 
horny wall. "Too bad, too bad!" condoled the judge with 
the owner, who instantly replied, "Oh, that's all right; a horse 
with a foot like that will never miss it!" And the judge — a 
beginner — seemed to take it for granted that the foot was a 
specially good one, precisely as he was expected to do, and he 
gave the horse a prize, although he had not been properly 
shown out like his rivals. 



Wire Marks Over Side-Bones. 

Instances have been disclosed where gashes have pur- 
posely been cut with a knife on the hoof head just over a 
prominent side-bone so that when the wounds healed and left 
large scars the side-bones might be laid to a wire cut. This 
trick is mostly used in the case of a stallion that might, on 
account of a side-bone, be refused a license for public service 
in states where laws are in force for the supervision of the 
horse breeding industry. 

In Wisconsin, which was the first state to enact a stallion 
service law, we found large scars over side-bones on both fore 
feet of a pure-bred draft stallion. In another case, where a 
complaint was filed to the effect that a stallion was unsound 
from side-bone, the owner claimed by letter that the side-bone 
was due to a calk wound. Examination by a veterinarian dis- 
closed the fact that the wound scar was over a side-bone on 
a hind foot, and there were two large side-bones on each fore 
foot and no scars on the latter. The state license of this 
horse was promptly cancelled for cause. 

Wedging a Cribber. 

Some dealers temporarily make a horse desist from crib- 
bing by driving hard wood wedges between his front incisor 
teeth. Another old plan is to saw between the teeth. The 



26 HORSE SECRETS 

soreness makes it painful for the horse to practise the habit 
of cribbing. Such a horse may be returned to the commission 
man, no matter how much time has elapsed since the purchase. 
The trick is difficult to discover unless the horse has cribbed 
long enough to render the appearance of the teeth suspicious. 
In the confirmed cribber the teeth are worn off or levelled and 
usually have lost the marks. 

Another way of stopping a horse from cribbing is to blind- 
fold the animal, place a block of wood on the incisor teeth 
and strike it with a mallet. By this cruel means the parts 
are made so sore that the horse temporarily stops catching 
hold of the manger to crib and suck wind. 

The buyer should always, when possible, see the horse 
in the stall prior to the show out. If he remembers this and 
moves quick enough he may see the horse wearing a strap 
buckled around his neck just back of the ears. Such a horse 
is a cribber and wind-sucker and the strap is put on to prevent 
the latter vice. 



Making an Artificial Star. 

It sometimes happens or is claimed to have happened that 
a pure-bred foal, registered when young in the stud book, 
is set down as having a star in its forehead but which on 
attaining maturity shows no such mark. Sometimes in match- 
ing horses a difficulty is experienced when a perfect mate is 
found with the exception that a star is lacking. 

In such cases the horseman is occasionally more or less 
successful in producing an artificial star. One plan suggested 
is to cut a boiling hot potato in two and instantly apply the 
cut surface to the skin of the forehead. The scalding removes 
the hair and it comes in white, but a careful examination of 
such an artificial scar often will disclose a small pink, hairless 
spot in the center of the mark. The same tell-tale spot is seen 
where the artificial star has been produced by cauterizing with 
a red-hot iron or scalding with boiling water. The discovery 
of an artificial star on the forehead of a stallion or mare sold 
as pure-bred and registered is sufficient reason for making 
a careful investigation as to the identity of the animal and the 
integrity of the seller. 

An old book gives the following plan of making an 
artificial star: Take a piece of coarse tow-linen, the size of 
the wished-for star. Spread on it warm pitch, and apply it 
to the shaved spot ; leave it on for two or three days, then 
wash with a smart water, or elixir of vitriol, two or three 
times a day until well. When the hair grows it will be white. 



HORSE SECRETS 2/ 

Bl&ck Spots on a White Horse. 

An old veterinary book says: Take of powdered quick- 
lime half a pound, and litharge four ounces. Beat well the 
litharge with the lime. The above is to be put into a vessel 
and a sharp lye is to be poured over it. This is the coloring 
matter which must be applied to such parts of the animal as 
you wish to have dyed black. 

Broken Crest or Wrong Lying Mane. 

In certain gross, coarse-necked, heavy-maned, plethoric 
draft stallions advancing in age it is not uncommon to find 
the crest broken over under the weight of the mane. Attempts 
are sometimes made by the owner or seller to offs-et this objec- 
tionable condition by braiding the mane and causing it to lie 
upon the side of the neck opposite the break by weighting 
with fiat strips of lead attached to the hair. If the crest breaks 
over to either side the mane may be roached. Weights may 
also be used in similar fashion to shed the mane of one horse 
of a pair so that it will lie on the proper side of the neck to 
make the team well matched and dressed. A broken crest is 
objectionable in a stallion as it indicates coarseness and gross- 
ness, a tendency to which is likely to be transmitted. The 
term broken crest is sometimes applied in the market to a 
horse affected with fistulous withers or scarred therefrom. 

Concealing Discharging Sinuses. 

It is not uncommon for a horse to have a fistula (opening 
or sinus) of a salivary duct. Where this is so there will be 
a discharge of saliva which appears as a limpid, transparent 
liquid oozing out or flowing in a stream. It is most profuse 
when the animal is eating and at that time may escape in jets. 

Such fistulse commonly involve Stenon's duct and are 
located on the side of the face or jaw. They are difficult to 
remedy, and the dealer resorts to the use of strong astring- 
ents and then plugs the openings tightly with cotton to 
temporarily prevent escape of saliva until a sale has been 
eflfected. 

A fistula connecting with the root of a diseased molar and 
discharging pus through a sinus (pipe) the orifice of which 
is under the lower jaw, may be plugged in similar fashion, to 
be discovered later by the chagrined buyer. It also is possible 
temporarily to prevent escape of pus from small chronic fistulae 
or those resulting from poll-evil, fistulous withers or trephining 
of the bones of the face. 



28 HORSE SECRETS 

The Galloping Past Dodge. 

Some horses roar loudly when going fast in harness, but 
are instantly quiet when action ceases. To prevent the detec- 
tion of this unsoundness the seller, unless prevented from 
doing so by an •experienced buyer, gallops the horse past the 
latter and, by tugging upon the lines, makes it appear that 
the animal is trying to run away or is difficult to control. The 
team is pulled up some distance away and by the time the 
buyer gets there the horse has resumed normal breathing. 

The better way to test the horse's wind is to lock the rear 
wheels of a wagon by thrusting a strong stick between the 
spokes from one wheel to the other ; then make the horses 
pull the wagon at a run and be at their heads the moment they 
stop. Such horses may not be true roarers but mechanical 
chokers with thick, bull necks or enlarged throat glands. 
These are practically sound and only roar when pulling a 
heavy load up hill or on getting the chin down close to the 
chest. 

Keeping a Horse on Edge. 

A horseman of the old school writes : "When dealers 
have had a horse some time in their stables, they exercise 
him with a whip two or three times a day, so that when a 
'chapman' goes to look at him, they have only to stir their 
hand with the whip in it. Under such conditions it is hard 
to say whether the horse, fearful of a drubbing, is lame or not, 
and a good judge may be deceived." 

In another place he says : "A horse that goes with his 
fore feet low is very apt to stumble and there are some that 
go so near the ground that they stumble most on even road, 
and the dealers, to remedy this, put heavy shoes on their feet, 
for the heavier a horse's shoes are, the higher he will lift his 
feet." 

"An Eye for An Eye." 

The buyer should have a keen look out for the eye of the 
horse; otherwise he may easily make sad mistakes in the 
market. 

The pupil of the eye should contract when the horse 
comes out into the light. If it does not, the eye is blind, or 
at least unsound. Such eyes have an unnatural appearance 
which should attract the attention of the alert examiner, but 
he will be very apt to overlook the blindness if the horse is 
led out into the bright sunshine. Where a horse has recently 



HORSE SECRETS 29 

become blind from periodic ophthalmia (moon blindness), he 
may still be able to detect a bright light, and so when exposed 
to sunshine, may throw up his head and look directly at the 
sun. This act makes the examiner liable to consider the eyes 
sound. 

Periodic ophthalmia, as suggested by the term, comes on 
at intervals, but eventually after repeated attacks ends in 
blindness of one or both eyes. 

A horse that has had a few attacks, causing a slight 
opacity of the cornea (scum), is a favorite with the scalper, as 
he can be bought cheap, treated for the temporary clearing 
up of the eyes, and sold at a profit to an unwary buyer. The 
disease is incurable, and its presence is to be suspected when 
the eyebrow appears triangular and wrinkled, and the eye 
looks smaller than its mate, or a healthy eye, and is retracted 
into the orbit. 

Unscrupulous buyers sometimes rend-er a horse temporarily 
blind by chewing whole flaxseed to a pulp and smearing it in 
the eye. By washing a cloudy, sticky-looking eyeball, this 
trick is readily discovered. 

A horse may also be rendered temporarily blind by the 
administration of certain drugs. 

The clearing-up process of treating a blue-eyed or moon- 
blind horse also is effected by skilful use of such drugs as 
atropia, belladonna, eserine, nitrate of mercury ointment, 
bloodroot, alum, calomel, etc. Their effect is transitory, and 
the horse soon has an unmistakable attack of ophthalmia. 

Examine the Ears. 

It will be well to "put a flea in the ear" of the man who 
contemplates buying a horse and who may not know that the 
ear will bear investigation. If the animal will not submit to 
inspection, look out ! The horse that will not allow one to 
handle his ears, or fights when the attempt is made, may be 
a terror to shoe, and therefore has had the "twitch" put on 
his ear many a time in the blacksmith's shop ; or he may 
have had poll-evil, some injury to the ear, or head, or have 
a disease present which makes the ear sore or sensitive. A 
horse so affected is difficult to handle, as he fights when the 
halter or bridle is put on. 

Sometimes a fine silken thread may be found running 
under the forelock from ear to ear to prevent them from 
lopping over. 

Or there may be a leaden bullet suspended by a silk 
thread in the hollow of the ear to prevent its constant motion. 



30 HORSE SECRETS 

Sometimes the motion indicates impaired sight or nervous- 
ness, whereas the lack of it may indicate deafness. 

Then, too, we sometim-es find at the base of the ear a 
chronic, almost incurable fistulous opening and tract con- 
necting with the bursa mucosa, constantly discharging a 
substance like liquid vaseline, which daubs and mats the hair, 
giving the part an untidy, filthy appearance. 

Besides this, temporarily stitched and glued split ears, 
chronic eczema and warts may be looked for and avoided. It 
is more difficult to find ear ticks, such as are met with in 
southwestern states, but when present they cause great irrita- 
tion, and may make a horse fractious. 

Bishoping, an Old Trick. 

John C. Knowlson,* an old farrier, writing in 1850, says: 
"Horse dealers have a trick of knocking out the nook teeth 
at three years and a half, to make a horse appear five years 
old when only four; but they cannot raise the tusks. At six 
years old the nook teeth are a little hollow, and at seven there 
is a black mark, like the end of a ripe bean. Afterwards you 
will observe the flesh shrink from the teeth, which grow long 
and yellow. Horse dealers have also a method which they 
call Bishoping a horse's mouth; that is, filing the tusks shorter, 
rounding them at the ends, taking a little out of the nook 
teeth, so as to make them rather hollow, and then burning 
them with a hot iron. I was hired by Anthony Johnson, of 
Wincolmlee, Hull, as farrier to a number of horses that were 
going to the city of Moscow, in Russia, for sale, and we had 
a little gray horse, calkd Peatum, that was seventeen years 
old, the mouth of which I bishoped, and he passed for six 
years old, and was the first horse sold, and for £500 English 
money! I only mention this as a caution to horse buyers." 



How Bishoping is Done. 

Bishoping is dental forgery, false marks being made on 
the incisor teeth to make an old horse appear young. It is a 
dishonest practise and not to be countenanced for a moment 
by a reputable horseman. The modus operandi of the 
business is told as follows in a well-known book on "Animal 
Dentistry": "Renewal of the cups (bishoping) is the most 
important of the artificial attempts to make horses appear 
younger, and if performed intelligently upon horses that are 

•See note on page 47, relating to "An old operation for spavin." 



HORSE SECRETS 3I 

not too old, together with the shortening and poHshing of the 
crowns of the superior incisors, may deceive even the vaunted 
expert. The operation consists of cutting large cups in the 
inferior corners, smaller ones in the laterals and mere dots 
in the centrals and then staining them with silver nitrate. 
The cupping process is performed with an engraver's gouge, 
and a revolving hand drill, or by the modern ingenious imple- 
ment in vogue in the Chicago market, consisting of the foot 
engine used by human dentists, equipped with a circular 
cutting wheel, by which cups of perfectly normal shape and 
size can be made. The horse is backed into a single stall 
and secured in a dental halter. An assistant works the dental 
engine with the foot. The operator holding the hand piece of 
the flexible shaft in the right hand and the jaw in the other, 
cuts first a large elliptical cup, with sharp commissures, in 
the table of the corner incisors, then smaller ones in the 
laterals and small dots in the centrals. As the wheel revolves 
with great velocity, the cupping is the work of but a moment, 
if the horse stands complacently. When the corner tooth has 
but a small table it is enlarged by filling and the cup is cut 
across its entire length. The cup in the corners is frequently 
made with a rounded belly internally and a sharp commissure 
externally to give a more confusing if not a more natural 
appearance. When the cupping process is complete, the 
arcade is dried and kept free from saliva by wrapping the jaw 
behind the teeth with a cloth or towel. The cups are then 
stained by applying a saturated solution of silver nitrate with 
a stick and then drying it immediately by plunging the head 
of a burning match into it. The drying process immediately 
blackens the cavity. If the stain flows over the table of the 
tooth it is filed off. 

Shortening, polishing, cupping and staining the incisor 
teeth of a nine or ten-year-old horse may be so cleverly per- 
formed that the most circumspect study of the mouth may fail 
to detect the alteration. In these cases the cupping is limited 
to the removal of the crusta petrosa within the infundibula, 
thus leaving the cup with a perfect enamel boundary. At 
that age the other retrogressive changes are not pronounced, 
and afford but little evidence to guide the diagnostician. 
When horses are past the age of twelve years the results of 
these operations are easily detected by the interrupted contact 
of the incisor arcades (rows of teeth) and especially by the 
angle of inclination, which is never altered by any natural 
process and which cannot be artificially changed. The shape 
of the tables and the absence of enamel around the cup will 
also lead readily to detection of the fraudulent attempts to 
make very old horses appear younger." 



32 HORSE SECRETS 



Miscellaneous Secrets. 



The Widow Trick. 

Some years since it was common to find cunningly worded 
horse-sale advertisements in the daily newspapers, offering 
seemingly valuable animals at sacrifice prices. In some of these 
advertisements it was stated that a widow about to leave for 
Europe, where she hoped to be able to assuage the grief of her 
recent bereavement, would sell her favorite carriage horse, 
provided she could be assured of a good home and kind treat- 
ment for the highly esteemed animal. In reality the widow 
was a myth and the valuable horse a good looking, but 
worthless "robber." 

The scheme was craftily carried out, and many a man 
from the country fell a dupe to the wiles of the "widow" and 
her confederates. On going to the address mentioned in the 
advertisement, the prospective buyer would find a large stable 
in the rear of a fine old-fashioned mansion on one of the out- 
lying boulevards or avenues. Here in charge of a glib-tongued 
coachman, usually a colored man, would be found several 
finely groomed horses standing knee deep in the finest of 
wheat straw bedding and surrounded by every appointment 
of a swell private stable. Opening negotiations with the 
groom, the buyer would hear one of the most plausible and 
pleasing tales imaginable elaborative of a similar, condensed 
story told in the glowing advertisement that had induced the 
visit. The filly or gelding would be described as bred in the 
purple, by Allerton, out of Kentucky Queen, she by a Pilot 
Jr., or some such combination of standard blood, possessed of 
great speed, having done halves in 1.08, a final quarter in 34 
seconds, and the half "would have been as good as 1.06]/^ had 
the track 'near the pole' not been heavy from a recent rain." 
When the purchaser had become interested, but not sufficiently 
so to agree to a somewhat steep price, the "widow" dressed in 
deepest mourning and heavily veiled would opportunely appear 
upon the scene, do the weeping act and manage matters so 
adroitly that soon a bargain would be struck at a handsome 
figure. 

Sometimes a "Colonel" or a "General" or a "Judge" would 
take the place of the "widow," the man posing as that charac- 



HORSE SECRETS 33 

ter being suitably dressed for the part, commanding in appear- 
ance, and so plausible and polished in address as to disarm 
all suspicion. During the preliminary negotiations between the 
groom and the buyer, the "General' would be conveniently 
stationed in the hay-loft overhead and would be summoned 
by electric bell when wanted, the "sucker" meanwhile being 
taken into the alley to see the horse go through his paces. 

Needless to say that the buyer on getting the horse home 
and trying him out quickly rued his bargain, and equally 
unnecessary to say that when he went back to the swell 
stable for redress he found the place abandoned and was 
wholly unable to locate the men who had perpetrated the 
swindle. 

This method of fleecing the unwary buyer is still in vogue 
but far less common than was the case before the advent of 
the automobile. Still it will be well to take glowing horse- 
sale advertisements with a large grain of salt, and better still 
to purchase a horse through some reliable commission man 
or dealer. 

Landing* a Sucker. 

Dr. H. W. Hawley, an experienced veterinary horse 
buyer at the Chicago Stock Yards, says in the June, 1903, 
number of the Chicago Veterinary College "Quarterly Bul- 
letin," that most of the tricks of the horse dealing trade, 
though not all of them, are performed by scalpers. It takes 
only a few glances or questions for the sharper to know 
just the sort of horse the city buyer is looking for, and the 
scalper, with the aid of his colleagues, proceeds to "land a 
sucker." 

The gentlemanly scalper, with a disinterested manner, 
informs the buyer that he saw a lovely horse in a certain 
barn, the color being mentioned, but not being a horseman 
he knows nothing as to the soundness of the animal, nor as 
to the price. Word is sent along the line, and everything 
is ready. The horse is led out and just suits; is sound and 
all right, but the sum asked is $25 to $75 more than the 
market price. Perhaps the unsuspecting buyer will offer $10 
or $15 more than the auction price, but he is allowed to go 
away with a polite, "Thank you, for the offer." 

Another disinterested party whispers in the buyer's ear 
that the horse will be sold at auction. Sure enough, the animal 
is led to the auction stables, and care is taken that the buyer 
sees it passing. 

The auctioneer and ringman are posted, and they wait 
for the sucker. The horseman starts the animal at pretty 



34 HORSE SECRETS 

near his value. The bidding is rapid. The sucker gets in, 
and under excitement bids two or three times. Perhaps one 
of the regular eastern shippers bids once, but as a rule, the 
sucker, the auctioneer, and the scalper are the only bidders. 
The latter can usually tell when the victim has made his last 
bid, and the horse is knocked down to him at a good profit, 
which is divided between those concerned. 

Sometimes the auctioneer is fooled by the sucker refusing 
to bid again. In such a case the scalper kicks out of his last 
bid and the horse is sold to the sucker at his previous bid. 



A Horse That Was Right There. 

A New Hampshire horse dealer was "burned" by trading 
for a horse that would work anywhere and pull strongly 
except when he came to the foot of. a hill; there he would balk 
and refuse to pull a pound. After he had kept the horse about 
a month a stranger came along and was "taken in." The 
horse looked well and a trade was made for another horse 
and considerable "boot." The buyer asked the dealer if the 
horse was a good worker and was told, "You bet ! He will 
work any place you put him and when you come to the foot 
of a hill I tell you he's right there!" 

So the buyer discovered, and on complaining bitterly 
to the dealer was reminded of his honesty and candor in 
stating that at the foot of a hill he would always be right 
there. No doubt he paid more particular attention to the 
plausible talk of the dealer the next time he had occasion to 
"dicker" for a "hoss." 



An Honest " Hoss " Dealer. 

There lived in Michigan a shrewd old horse dealer who 
gave folks due warning to bew^are when he donned his selling 
clothes. He used to say : "When I say, 'Hoss', — look out ! 
I'm a-goin' to trade. But when it's 'Horse,' — nawthin' doin' ! 
Ye're perfectly safe." 

It is related that this character had a balky horse put on 
him by brother dealers in a neighboring town ; but a few days 
later he got even, and with the same "hoss." The former 
owners failed to recognize the beast, for in the interim it had 
been clipped, roached, docked and bishoped, besides receiving 
a few artistic spots of dye, and having had "tug marks" and 
"collar galls" manufactured by skilful shaving at the right 
places. In his new fix he looked a young, handsome, hard- 



HORSE SECRETS 35 

working animal, but when the deal was made and the new 
owners hitched him up, they realized at once that both they 
and the horse were "stuck." 



A Sharper's Smooth Sayings. 

Elsewhere we have told of a balker that "was right there 
at the foot of a hill" or that would "stand without hitching.'' 
The scalper and crafty dealer use many catchy phrases of 
this sort, and they fool the buyer unless he has sharp ears 
and quick comprehension. 

A few additional catch sayings may prove of interest: A 
dealer having a horse with defective eyesight fitted him out 
with close blinkers and said to the buyer, "He doesn't look 
very well." Another said of a heavey horse, "If he ain't windy 
you needn't take him.'' 

Again, as to looks, and ability in harness, one said, "If 
he don't suit you in harness you can take it off," and again, 
"Single I bought him ; double I broke him myself." 

Some of the dealers are wits and most of them have quaint 
expressions and sayings. The following sample will suffice: 
A dealer was seen exercising a horse so badly foundered in 
his hind feet that he not only walked on his heels but 
stood with his fore and hind feet almost on the same spot 
under his body. "Say! What are you goin' to do with that 
critter!" asked a bystander, and like a flash came the answer, 
"Take Irim to Indiana to tramp sourkraut in a barrel." 



The Winter Board Trick. 

A farmer read an advertisement in a city paper asking 
for a winter home and board for two family horses that the 
owner desired to leave comfortably provided for in the 
country during his absence in Europe. The farmer went to 
the city to investigate and found a fine pair of horses in a 
swell stable. Soon a bargain, profitable to the farmer, was 
arranged at a specified rate per week for board, stabling and 
care during the winter, but as the pleased stranger was about 
to leave for home, the stableman said, "Here, you are a 
stranger to me, and therefore you ought to put up some 
security for having such a valuable pair of horses in your 
care." After some discussion, the farmer was induced to 
deposit $ioo as security, and went home, congratulating him- 
self upon the good winter's profit he would have in looking 
after the horses which were to be shipped to him by train the 
following day. In due course, two horses arrived, but they 



36 HORSE SECRETS 

were old "plugs," worth perhaps $5 a piece. The swindle 
cost the farmer $90 and his expenses, for when he went to 
the city to hunt up the sharper, he found the stable in the 
same old place, but the bird had flown, and no one could tell 
him where. 

How Horses Catch Cold. 

An old time farrier wisely says : "Many farmers and 
tradesmen get too much drink when they go to market, and 
then set off home, riding like madmen, and calling at some 
public house on the road to get more of the soxil and body 
destroying evil, leave their horses to stand sweating at the 
door, where it is no wonder that they get cold. Wagoners, 
carters, and coal carriers, are also often guilty of this abomi- 
nable practise." 



Tricks in Measuring Horses. 

It is often important to have a horse not less than some 
given height, and great care has to be taken in making the 
necessary measurement with the "hand stick" (hippometer). 
If the horse is under or over the desired height the dealer 
may irritate the animal so that an exact measurement is difficult 
or impossible to make. 

If the horse is undersized the dealer will try to stand him 
with the hind feet low. In the stable or yard everything is 
prepared so that this may be easily done. Another plan is 
to put on abnormally thick shoes, or those having calkins ; the 
animal's head is kept lowered so that the withers will be 
correspondingly heightened. Opposite methods are practised 
when a horse is a trifle too high for show-yard requirements 
or mating, and such tricks have given buyers of horses for 
the army no end of trouble. 

When a horse is to be measured stand him on a level 
floor and then see that the measuring is honestly done. 



^ 




HORSE SECRETS 37 



Secrets About Stallion Selling^. 



Palming Off a Grade Stallion on a Company. 

The fact that several bogus pedigree registry associations 
are in existence, although they have not received the approval 
of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, makes it 
possible for dishonest stallion peddlers to obtain fraudulent 
registry certificates and, by using them, to fool the farmer. It 
would be well if no registry associations were allowed to 
engage in the interstate business of recording the pedigrees 
of breeding animals without first obtaining the approval of 
the Secretary of Agriculture. 

A stallion whose sire was said by the owner to be 
"Middleton 11" and out of a dam of part Morgan blood, was 
given a grade license certificate by the Department of Horse 
Breeding, of the College of Agriculture, of the University of 
Wisconsin. Some time later the horse changed hands and 
the buyer, who was an experienced organizer of stallion 
companies, had him recorded in a bogus stud book which 
issues a handsome, gold sealed registry certificate. On this 
the stallion was given an entirely new and wholly false 
pedigree, the sire being set forth as ''Grove Revenue" and the 
dam as a well-bred Shire. On the strength of this attractive 
registry certificate of notable ancestry and the help of a few 
confederates, the stallion was sold to a company of hard- 
working farmers in one of the northern counties of the state 
for $i,8oo in shares of $75 each. Some of the notes were dis- 
counted and the peddler disappeared, but now the matter is 
in the courts, as the Department of Horse Breeding discovered 
the swindle and put the company "wise." 

Another case has been discovered where a grade stallion 
was sold for a good price as pure-bred on the strength of a 
registry certificate from the stud book alluded to and "impor- 
ted" according to the statement of the peddler. The owner 
in this case also learned too late that he had fallen a victim 
to sharpers, and will now seek redress in the courts. 

Many similar cases could be cited and they serve to show 
the importance of studying the registry certificate furnished 
with the horse and making sure that it was issued by a stud 
book association approved by the Department of Agriculture, 
Washington, D, C. 



38 HORSE SECRETS 

Stud Books Approved by the Government. 

The following registry associations have been approved 
by the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. : 

American Association of Importers and Breeders of 
Belgian Draft Horses — J, D. Connor, Jr., Wabash, Ind., 
Secretary. 

American Breeders' Association of Jacks and Jennets — 
J. W. Jones, Columbia, Tenn., Secretary. 

American Clydesdale Association — R. B. Ogilvie, Union 
Stock-yards, Chicago, 111., Secretary. 

American Hackney Horse Society — Gurn^ey C. Gue, 308 
West 97th St., New York, Secretary. 

American Breeders' and Importers' Percheron Registry — 
John A. Forney, Plainfield, O., Secretary. 

American Saddle Horse Breeders' Association — I. B. Nail, 
Louisville, Ky., Secretary. 

American Shetland Pony Club — Mortimer Levering, La- 
fayette, Ind., Secretary. 

American Shire Horse Breeders' Association — Chas. 
Burgess, Wenona, 111., Secretary. 

American Stud Book (Thoroughbreds) — W. H. Rowe, 
New York, Registrar. 

American Trotting Register Co. — Frank E. Best, 355 
Dearborn St., Chicago, Registrar. 

American Suffolk Horse Association — Alexander Gal- 
braith, De Kalb, 111., Secretary. 

Cleveland Bay Society of America — R. P. Stericker, West 
Orange, N. J., Secretary. 

French Coach Horse Society of America — Duncan E. 
Willett, Oak Park, 111., Secretary. 

French Coach Registry Co., — Chas. C. Glenn, Columbus, 
O., Secretary. 

German, Hanoverian and Oldenburg Coach Horse 
Breeders' Association — J. Crouch, Lafayette, Ind., Secretary. 

Morgan Horse Register — ^Joseph Battell, Middlebury, Vt., 
Editor. 

National French Draft Horse Association — C. E. Stubbs, 
Fairfield, Iowa, Secretary. 

Percheron Society of America — Geo. W. Stubblefield, 
Union Stock-yards, Chicago, Secretary. 

Percheron Registry Co. — Chas. C. Glenn, Columbus, O., 
Secretary. 



HORSE SECRETS 39 

Stud Books Not Certified by the Government. 

The following registry books are not at the date of this 
writing, August 4, 1909, certified by the Department of Agri- 
culture, Washington, D. C. : 

American Horse Breeders' Trotting Registry Association, 
161 High St., Boston, Mass. 

American Horse Registry Association — N, J. Harris, 
Des Moines, la.. Secretary. 

Arabian Horse Club of America — H. K. Bush-Brown, 
Newburgh, N. Y., Secretary. 

American Iceland Pony Club — Geo. H. Simpson, 
Wheaton, 111., Secretary. 

American Percheron Registry Association — S. M. Heber- 
ling. La Grange, 111., Secretary. 

Coach and Draft Horse Association of America — Frederick 
Wightman, La Crosse, Wis. 

Hartman Stock Farm Registry Record Co. — Adam 
Krumm, Columbus, O., Secretary. 

International Consolidated Record Association — H. A. 
Jones, Penn Yan, N. Y., Secretary. , 

Morrisons' International Roadster Register — Des Moines, 
Iowa. 

The American Jack Register — W. L. De Clow, Cedar 
Rapids, la. 

The National Standard Pacing and Trotting Horse 
Breeders' Association — Thos. C. Parsons, 1023-5 Williamson 
Building, Cleveland, O., Registrar. 

The Standard Jack and Jennet Registry of America — 
Kansas City, Mo. 

Story of a Company Stallion Deal. 

A few years ago a suit for the payment of fraudulently 
obtained notes for the purchase of a stallion was thrown out 
of court by Judge Garland, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for 
want of equity. A transcript of the evidence shows that 
there were the best of reasons for the Judge's action. 

It was alleged by the defendants, a number of farmers, 
that their names were secured in a book, by reason of rep- 
resentations made by an agent of the horse importer that they 
were signing a call for a meeting of farmers to consider the 
matter of buying a stallion for $5,000, and that when twenty 
names were secured a meeting would be called. 

The names were secured and the meeting called, but 
instead of being asked to consider the matter of buying the 
horse the signers were informed that they had already agreed 



40 HORSE SECRETS 

to buy the horse and jointly and severally pay $5,000 for him in 
four equal yearly payments, the first payment to be in two 
years, with six per cent, interest on all payments. In a proof of 
this it was shown that a brief contract in small type was 
printed at the top of the page of the book in which the names 
were signed which bound the signers as alleged. Upon this 
revelation the meeting became the opposite of one called to 
consider the purchase of the horse, as may be readily imagined. 

The evidence shows that the defendants either did not 
know there was any printing matter on the page they signed, 
or if they did see it did not read it, and were told by the agent 
that it had nothing to do with the matter under consideration, 
or to be exact, one farmer testified: "I looked the thing over: 
I noticed this contract at the head of it and I asked what 
that fine print was there. He (the agent) said that it was 
an Iowa contract and did not cut any figure in this State." 
Another explanation was testified to by another witness, quoted 
further on. Some witnesses testified that a broad rubber 
band or a turned leaf concealed the contract. The agent 
testified that he did not call any of the defendants' attention 
to the contract, didn't know if they saw it, but "supposed 
they did, for they had the book in their hands." 

All the defendants testified that they would not have 
signed the book if the}' had known the contract was there. 
Regarding the matter of what the meeting was to be called 
for, one farmer testified as follows, and he was corroborated 
by the other witnesses for the defense, and by at least one 
witness for the plaintiffs : 

"Question : State what that conversation was, what he 
(the agent) said and what you said." 

"Answer: He told me he was trying to sell a horse and 
wanted me to sign a book. I asked the object of signing the 
book and he said it was just to call a meeting and get the 
men together and see if they would buy the horse. I asked 
him why he wanted our names on the book if he just wanted 
to call a meeting, why didn't he call it without our names on 
the book? Well, he says, you fellows are strangers to me, 
your names are unfamiliar and I want a list of them so that 
I will know who to notify when I get ready to call a meeting, 
or else, he says, I may forget some of you who would like a 
share in that horse. Then I asked if there was anything binding 
about the book. I saw some printed matter and asked him 
what that was and he said there was nothing binding about it. 
I asked him what it was and what it was there for. He said 
it was just a memorandum showing that the meeting was 
called for, and the meeting would be to make a proposition 
to us to sell the horse and if we seen fit to buy the horse, well 
and good. If not, he said he would be out so much time 



HORSE SECRETS 



41 



and no harm done. That is the sum and substance of the 
conversation we had until I signed the book." 

It seems clear enough that the defendants believed they 
were simply signing a call for a meeting to consider the 
subject of forming a company to buy the horse; at any rate 
the case seemed so clear to Judge Garland that he did not 
seriously consider the question of compelling the farmers to 
give their notes as demanded by the plaintiffs, and threw the 
case out of court. 



Horse Peddlers' Confessions. 

A peddler is a horse sharper who buys a cheap stallion 
of questionable quality, soundness, prepotency or breeding, 
from some large horse dealing firm, and then organizes a 
company of farmers for his purchase at a handsome profit. 
The tricks of such men are many and shady, and a few of 
them are here quoted for the benefit of farmers, who being 
thus forewarned, should in future be forearmed against the 
wiles of these glib-tongued confidence men. 

The "Farm. Stock and Home'' vouches for the truth of the 
following personal confession of a stallion peddler: 



The Sale of Les Epinards. 

I had noticed in a farm paper the advertisement of an 
auction sale of Percheron horses to be held at the farm of a 
breeder in an adjoining state. I slipped down there a few 
days before the date of sale, and picked out a nice looking, 
two-year-old stallion and on the day of sale bid $320 and the 
horse was sold to me. A pedigree was thrown in, but as it 
was written in the English language and the horse had a 
common, pronounceable name, I discarded it and christened 
him Les Epinards. At that time I didn't know what Les 
Epinards meant, but remembered having seen it somewhere. 
I shipped him to a small town and started in to organize a 
company to buy him for $2,800. The pedigree proposition 
bothered me until I heard Billie was organizing a company 
in the next county. He very kindly lent me a pedigree that 
he had in his trunk which answered very well for Les Epin- 
ards. It was natural for me to say that the Epinards were 
celebrated breeders over in France who always named their 
horses after themselves. The name and the horse made a 
hit, and in six weeks' time I had the signatures of ten farmers 
each for $280, four of them good, and the others just well 
enough known to the banker to cut down his discount 15 



42 HORSE SECRETS 

per cent. As it was a joint note, the banker realized in full 
and I came out of the sale in this fashion: 

Price to company $2,8oo 

EXPENSES 

Paid for the horse $320 

Freight 12 

Bank discount 420 

Board 60 

Paid cappers 150 

Groom 55 

Feed 18 1,035 

Profit $1765 

Now that's what Tummy would call "financial acumen." 
I bought a horse at an auction sale for $320, shipped him to 
another county in the same state and sold him for $2,800. It 
gradually dawned on me that there was more money in the 
selling than there was in the breeding and raising. Tummy 
was a wise boy, but I was beginning to learn a few things 
myself. 

The same paper published the following, October i, 1905: 

The Sale of Transmi^ator. 

The easy money I made on the sale of Les Epinards as 
narrated in the last issue, emboldened me to try a new dodge, 
A fair was being held in Winnipeg. While there I fell in 
with a horse breeder who had a number of Percherons on his 
farm, some distance to the east of that town. At his invita- 
tion I visited the farm and was somewhat surprised at the 
prices he quoted for fine-looking stallions. One two-year-old 
of necessary size and shape he offered me for $300. It was 
not any part of my business to tell him who I was, and I 
am inclined to think he took me for a farmer from the states. 
In the horse peddling business the less people know about 
you the better and easier it is for the peddler, so I never 
corrected him. T bought the horse, imported him across the 
imaginary line dividing the two countries duty free by making 
affidavit he was to be used exclusively for breeding purposes 
and by satisfying the authorities with the pedigree furnished 
me by the Canadian that he was a pure-bred animal. 

With the rich selected feed my groom knew how to mix, 
helped along with artistic grooming and care, Transmigrator — 
the name he was to be known by — waxed fat and sleek. I 
could truthfully say he was imported, but as he was a bit 
shy on prize winnings I could not harp much on that score. 
Blue ribbons were cheap, however, and when we decked him 
out with a supply of them, he looked as fit as the majority of 



HORSE SECRETS 43 

horses I sold for certain importers. Inasmuch as his pedigree 
was written in English, and certified to by officials with easy 
names to pronounce, I resolved to give the company a bargain, 
and put his price at $2,500. I always did believe in being 
generous. I might just as easily have sold for $3,000, but I 
threw off $500 on account of the understandable pedigree. 

The company which bought the horse came near going 
to pieces after I had secured the names of six farmers to the 
notes. A busybody in that community insisted on making 
me a cash ofifer of $r,ooo. Of course, there was no profit in 
that for me and I was perfectly right in refusing his offer. 
What's the use of farmers being educated to the beauties of 
the company plan which benefits the bankers, the peddlers, 
the groom, and the cappers, if we are going to sell the horse 
direct for cash. It's only the farmers that make the money 
by the cash or direct way of buying a stallion. I never met a 
peddler who was looking out for the farmers' interests. They 
are in the business to improve the quality of horses and 
incidentally increase the size of their own bank rolls. 

This reprobate even went so far as to actually buy a 
stallion from a breeder for $975, and I must confess he was a 
good judge, for he certainly got an excellent animal. My horse, 
however, had one advantage — he had a longer name and was 
imported. On two occasions I felt like quitting. Only four 
of the signers of the joint note could be trusted for a peanut, 
so the banker said, and he insisted on my getting two addi- 
tional names acceptable to him. This was not an agreeable 
task, and I worked like a Trojan, persuading the members of 
the company that it was a more sensible thing to sign notes 
due in two years for $2,500 at only six per cent, interest 
rather than to pay $i,ooo cash for a horse that possibly might 
die as soon as paid for. I will not repeat in cold print the 
arguments I used — they might be considered foolish by my 
readers. The fact remains, however, I did get six good names 
on that note and four fillers, making ten signers, who each 
agreed to pay me $250 for Transmigrator. They could 
have bought a better horse for $1,000 cash from breeders, 
within 100 miles. I made fair wages by the transaction, as 
may be seen from the following: 

Price to company $2,500 

EXPENSES 

Cost of horse $300 

Banker's discount 375 

Freight 37 

Board 49 

Feed 25 

Paid cappers 160 946 

Profit $1,554 



44 HORSE SECRETS 



Some Veterinary Secrets. 



Secret of Preventing Navel and Joint Disease. 

When a new-born foal speedily develops abscesses involv- 
ing the navel and the joints of the extremities, the cause is 
an invasion of the navel by filth germs and this may easily 
be prevented. A mare foaling in cold weather should be 
provided with a clean, fresh bedded, disinfected, light, airy, 
whitewashed box stall in which to have her foal. In the 
summer season she may be allowed to foal on grass where 
filth germs are less liable to be found than in old, dark, dirty 
stables. But no matter where the foal is born, care must be 
taken to thoroughly disinfect the navel cord (umbilicus) as 
soon as it has be-en severed or tied. For this purpose a i :5oo 
solution of bichloride of mercury (corrosive sublimate) is 
usually recommended, but we advise the use of a much 
stronger solution to be prepared as follows : Dissolve Yz 
ounce of finely powdered corrosive sublimate in i pint of 
boiling water to which has been added i dram of dilute 
hydrochloric acid. When cold add >< ounce of tincture of iron, 
as coloring matter; label the bottle "poison" and keep it out 
of the reach of children. 

At the birth of a foal immediately wet the stump of the 
navel with this solution and repeat the application twice 
daily until the cord dries up, and falls ofif and no raw spot 
can be seen. The solution at the time of using may conveniently 
be held in a shallow wide-mouthed bottle into which the 
stump of the cord may be inserted and immersed. As soon 
as the cord has shrivelled up remove it, if it will come away 
readily. The new raw surface can easily be got at with the 
solution. Use of the solution will also tend to prevent leakage 
of urine from the navel. 

It is best to avoid, wherever possible, tying the navel 
cord at birth. The natural way is for the cord to be broken 
at birth, either when the foal is dropped or by the mare 
rising, and so causing it to break by stretching it. When 
this happens the walls of the fetal urinary passage (urachus), 
the arteries and the vein of the umbilicus retract and close 
the opening; whereas these vessels are liable to remain open 



HORSE SECRETS 45 

for 'entrance of germs if the cord has been Hgated, or cut ofT 
and the ligature quickly removed, besides allowing the escape 
of urine by way of the pervious urachus. 



Symptoms of Bad Teeth. 

In some old horses whose molar teeth are diseased or 
irregular, perfect mastication of hay becomes impossible. 
After the animal has chewed for a time, the teeth and tongue 
tend to form a ball (bolus) of hay which is forced out of the 
mouth instead of being swallowed. This is termed "quidding," 
and when it is seen it may be taken as an indication of the 
need of a veterinary dentist with his instruments. In other 
cases the partly masticated food is gathered in a pouch 
between the molar teeth and cheek, and this can be plainly 
seen and felt by the careful examiner. This pouch is some- 
times called the "granary," and from the outside its presence 
is indicated by an elongated tumor which has a doughy feel 
when pressed with the finger. 

When a diseased molar is present in the mouth, or when 
a "granary" exists, there is a foul odor, which should lead to 
the discovery of the condition. To distract attention from 
this odor it is said that horse dealers always take the pre- 
caution to cleanse the mouth of the horse with vinegar. 

A chronic discharge from one nostril (nasal gleet), 
accompanied by a fetid odor, should warn the buyer to make 
a critical examination of the teeth, for if one is diseased and 
is the cause of the discharge, it will have to be removed by 
trephining, and that means expense and possibly loss of the 
services of the horse for some time. 



Remedies for Tail Rubbing. 

Idle, overfed, and insufificiently groomed horses often 
persistently rub their manes and tails to allay itchiness of 
the skin, induced by collections of dandruff which have 
escaped the curry-comb and brush. The hair on the root 
of the tail soon becomes harsh, stubby and stands on end 
so that the part becomes an eyesore, and especially so when 
continued rubbing has produced sores, cracks and an exudate 
of serum, blood or pus. 

A Virginia horseman once advised the writer that tail 
rubbing could quickly be cured if, at the outset, the following 
simple plan of treatment be adopted : Twist a lock of the 
upright hair of the affected part around the second finger, 



46 HORSE SECRETS 

and then pull until the skhi "gives" with a cracking sound. 
Repeat the pulling, lock by lock, until all of the part has been 
treated when the rubbing will cease. If it does not do so 
promptly, repeat the treatment as required. This plan is 
known also in Scotland. 

Another horseman advised that when a mare persistently 
rubs her tail the cause may be a collection of filth about the 
udder; a thorough washing with castile soap will end the 
trouble. 

Dealers who handle fine carriage horses and are preparing 
such animals for sale put each in a box stall during the feeding 
process and prevent tail rubbing by putting a wide plank 
shelf-wise on brackets around the inside of the walls of the 
box. When the horse attempts to rub, the edge of the plank 
will strike several inches below the itching part, and so make 
tail rubbing impossible. Another effective plan of prevention 
is to put a wainscot of boards upon the lower part of the 
walls so slanted outward at the floor surface that the horse 
backing to the wall cannot get his rump against any surface 
upon which to rub. 



A Cruel Cure for Heaves. 

An old horseman once told the writer that he had cured 
many a horse of heaves by simply amputating a portion of 
the tongue. "Guess I've cut off enough pieces of tongue," 
said he, "to fill a half bushel basket;" and he seemed to take 
pride in a statement which would strike any humanitarian as 
the climax of barbarity. The same man also strongly advo- 
cated the amputation of the tip of a horse's tail, when for any 
reason the animal had gone down paralyzed. 

It always is well to examine a horse's tongue before 
buying, as mutilations are not infrequently met with. Cases 
are on record where a brute has put a twitch on a horse's 
tongue, to make him stand still in the shoeing shop, with the 
result that a portion of the organ has been torn off during 
the struggles of the poor beast. Severe biting of a fractious 
horse, or tearing by a nail or other sharp object, may also 
injure the tongue more or less severely and perhaps lessen 
the value of the animal. 

When a considerable portion of the tongue has been 
lost, the horse is unable to drink without plunging his head 
up to the eyes in the water, and he also has difficulty in 
grazing. 

Stitches are sometimes put in the tongue of a horse to 
make it sore and so prevent it from cribbing. 



HORSE SECRETS 47 

An Astringent for Scours. 

The following interesting remedy is taken from the "Com- 
plete Farrier," published in 1850: 

"But when the disorder (a scouring) continues, and the 
horse's flesh keeps wasting away, recourse must be had to 
astringents. Tormentil root, dried and pounded in a mortar, 
and put through a sieve, is one of the best astringents yet 
found, though very little known. I heartily wish my fellow 
creatures would make more use of this valuable root than 
they do. The dose is from an ounce to an ounce and a half. 
I believe that this valuable root has done more good in my 
time, in stopping looseness and other bowel complaints, than 
anything else." 

An Old Operation for Spavin. 

A few years ago it was recommended as a new treatment 
that the saphena vein be obliterated at the place where it 
passes the seat of spavin, before using the firing irons. We 
recently ran across an allusion to this method of treatment 
which shows that it is by no means new. It is referred to as 
follows in the "Complete Farrier and Horse Doctor," pub- 
lished in 1850, the writer being John C. Knowlson, of New 
York, a nonagenarian "horse doctor" of the old school : 
"Before you fire a horse for bone-spavin, be careful to take 
the vein out of the way, for it generally lies over the spavin, 
and you cannot fire deep enough to come at the callous 
substance without its removal. In order to destroy the vein, 
cut a nick through the skin to the vein, just below the spavin, 
and another just above it, and put a crooked needle under 
the vein and tie both ends : then cut the vein across between 
the tyings, both above and below, and you may either draw 
out the piece or leave it in." 

The same author says relative to the treatment of bog- 
spavin : "As soon as you discover the vein puffed up or 
forming a bag, lay on some blistering ointment, and in four 
days after bathe the swelling well with hot vinegar with a 
little saltpeter dissolved in it. Also put a bandage round it 
to disperse the swelling as much as you can. If this method 
does not succeed, you must make two incisions in the skin 
lengthwise, as the vein runs, one just above and the other 
just below the joint, and lay the vein bare: then put the end 
of a buck's horn under it, raise it up, and fasten it in both 
places with waxed thread ; then cut the vein in two just within 
the tyings, and; if you think proper, draw the severed piece 
out. This method of proceeding will cure most bog-spavins 
at the beginning." 



48 HORSE SECRETS 

Facts About Pigment Tumors. 

On gray horses that at 10 or 12 years of age are turning 
white in color, purple-black malignant growths, known as 
pigment of melanotic tumors, frequently appear where the 
skin is black in color, and constitute the disease termed 
melanosis. The common seat of such tumors is the skin of the 
tail, anus, vulva, and lips, and while most often external, may 
be present internally. Such tumors are practically incurable, 
returning after having been amputated and cauterized. They 
visually burst and discharge bloody pus. and give the affected 
part a loathsome appearance. In young horses of gray color, 
a careful examination will often disclose small rudimentary 
tumors, and horses so affected should be bought with a right 
understanding of the consequences. Fatal attacks of a mys- 
terious disease may be caused by internal melanotic tumors. 

As an indication of the probability of these tumors being 
present internally, the French veterinary scientists, Goubaux 
and Barrier, say in their "Exterior of the Horse" : 

"The hairs of the mane, like those of the tail, are ordina- 
rily straight. One of our associates. Mercier, has communi- 
cated a remark on this subject, which was also believed by the 
Arabians: that it is in the white or gray horses with fri::.::Icd 
or c\irJy hairs in which melanotic tumors are always found in 
the interior of the body, although none may have any apparent 
trace on the exterior, particularly under the tail and around 
the anus. This remark, the correctness of which we have 
verified a number of times, both on the living subject and in 
the cadaver, is very important, because of the dangers to which 
animals affected with melanosis are exposed." 



\f!^W^'W^ 



HORSE SECRETS 49 



Secrets of Buying and Selling 
Horses. 



Auction Sale Rules.* 

At the Chicag-o Stock-yards the auction sales of horses, 
conducted m the "Bull rmg/' at Dexter Park, are regulated by 
certain definite rules which should be understood by horsemen 
and farmers. 

When a horse is brought in for sale a sign stating how the 
horse is to be sold is immediately exposed on th-e auctioneer's 
rostrum. There are six of these signs, viz., (i) Sound. 
(2)Serviceably sound. (3) Wind and work. (4) Work only. 
(5) Legs go. ' (6) At the halter. 

Terms on all sal-es are strictly cash. 

All horses must be examined and tried by purchaser as 
soon as bought, and must be tried and accepted on the premises 
during the day of sale, as all guarantees on horses expire with 
that day, and on delivery of the horse. In no case can a horse 
be rejected except on the day of sale, unless sold as sound and 
proved to be a cribber, heavey, crampy or lame. If proven to 
have any of the four named faults, the purchaser shall have 
until 9 A. M. the following day to reject the horse. Purchasers 
failing to try and examine horses within the required time 
forfeit all right of rejecting them, and no horse sold to wind 
and work shall be rejected for any cause except he proves 
windy or will not work. 

Should any question arise for adjustment between buyer 
and seller the matter shall be referred to three members of 
the Union Stock-yards Horse Exchange, the decision of a 
majority of whom shall be final. 

Any person found guilty of doping a horse to hide the 
fact that the animal is windy, heavey, crampy, cribby or lame, 
shall be expelled from the market and prosecuted to the full 
extent of the law. 

The following is an explanation of the principal rules 
governing sales in the auction ring: 

♦Exceptions to the above rules may be announced from the auction stand and defects 
pointed out, in which case they are recorded and go with the horse. 



50 HORSE SECRETS 

1. Sound. — A horse sold as sound must be perfectly- 
sound in every way. 

2. Serviceably Sound. — Must be virtually a sound horse. 
His wind and eyes must be good: he must not be lame or sore 
in any way, but sound, barring slight blemishes, and these 
blemishes must not constitute any unsoundness. A spot or 
streak in the eye, which does not affect the sight, will be 
considered serviceably sound as long as the pupil of the eye is 
good. A further explanation is given as follows by F. J. Berry 
& Co., a well-known horse commission firm at the Chicago 
Stock-yards: "Blemishes must be nothing more than splints; 
the horse may be slightly puffed and a little rounding on the 
curb joint, but he must not have a bad-looking curb, and must 
not have a brand. He may be a little cut in the knees, but 
he must not stand over on the knees or ankles. He may have 
a little puff on the outside of the hock, but he must not have 
thoroughpin, or boggy-hock, ring-bone, or jack, although he 
may naturally be a little coarse jointed; but the front part of 
the hocks inside must not be puffed. He may have slight scars 
or wire marks but these must not cause any deformity of the 
body, legs or feet, and must be nothing more than a slight 
scar. He must not have any scar from fistula or poll-evil. He 
must not have a hip down, and if one hip is a trifle lower than the 
other, it must be natural, and not a deformity like the cap of 
a hip down. He must not have side-bone, or any bad blemishes 
that deteriorate his value more than a trifle, but must be sound, 
barring slight blemishes that do not hurt him or change his 
value very little, and in no case more than the above-mentioned 
blemishes. Car bruises must be of a temporary nature. 

3. Wind and Work. — A horse sold to wind and work, 
must have good wind and be a good worker, and not a cribber, 
but everything else goes with him. 

4. Work Only. — He must be a good worker, but every- 
thing else goes with him. Ability to work is the only thing 
guaranteed. 

5. Legs Go, — Everything that is on the horse's legs go 
with him. Nothing is guaranteed except that he must not be 
lame or crampy. He must, however, be serviceably sound in 
every other respect. 

6. At the Halter. — Sold just as he stands without any 
recommendations. He may be lame, vicious, balky, a kicker 
or anything else. The title only is guaranteed ; the purchaser 
takes all the risk. 

Reputable Dealers Protect Their Patrons. 

The horse buyer who patronizes a reputable commission 
firm or dealer in the Chicago horse market, or in any other 



HORSE SECRETS 51 

great selling centre, will be honestly and fairly dealt with. The 
rules against cheating are stringent, and trickery is not coun- 
tenanced among the leaders of the trade. Doping an unsound 
horse may be punished by expulsion from the market, and 
tricks, like the application of "soup" to make a horse act mean, 
are prohibited on "horse row." It is when a buyer deals with 
a "scalper" who conducts his business "under his hat/' or 
patronizes the dealers who conduct a questionable business at 
small sales stables on the side streets near the stock-yards, 
that he may expect to get "the short end of the deal," and we 
would strongly advise our readers to give such dealers and 
sales stables a wide berth. 

As an illustration of how dishonesty is regarded among 
horsemen in some of the markets, the following well-authenti- 
cated incident may be told. In Kansas City a horse that had 
been overdosed with drugs to conceal the symptoms of heaves 
dropped dead while climbing an incline. The story of the 
"accident" spread through the market, and the next morning, 
when the owner of the drugged horse offered another of his 
animals in the auction ring, the auctioneer is said to have 
stopped, told the story to the audience, pointed out the man 
who gave the drugs and the owner, and added, "Now, this 
man has a load of horses to sell to-day and you folks can be 
your own judges about buying them." 

The seller from the country is as likely to "put up a job" 
on the commission man or dealer as the latter is to cheat the 
greenhorn buyer, and we agree with Dr. Hawley, who says : 
"Horsemen in general are not more dishonest than men in 
any other branch of business which offers like opportunities 
for trickery ; neither do I believe they are more dishonest 
than the men who buy from them." 

Two Sides to a Horse. 

When a horse is first led out for the intending buyer to 
examine him in the dealer's stable, it is a common trick to 
stand the animal close against a wall. By this means objec- 
tionable features of the "other side of the picture" are hidden, 
and the pleasing aspects of the proposition, plain to the eye 
and hand of the purchaser, alone are considered by him in 
making his choice. If the horse is sold subject to such 
examination and without a written guaranty, there is no 
recourse for the purchaser when, perchance, the next hour or 
day he finds on the ofif side of the horse a "wall-eye," a brand 
mark, a big shoe boil, a knocked-down hip, a fistula of the 
withers, or some other objectionable and troublesome or even 
seriously hurtful blemish or condition. 



52 HORSE SECRETS 

The intending purchaser should get the horse away from 
the wall and make a tour of inspection around him, looking 
carefully at every part and detail, and then using the hand, 
if necessary, to corroborate or correct what the eye has seen 
or suGpected. It is always best to look at the horse from a 
little distance before closing in, and making a more careful 
inspection. Close inspection deals with minute things, and 
may make one overlook or fail to see bigger and more import- 
ant things which would appeal to the eye when taking in the 
entire side of the horse at a look. 

When a dealer is extra particular to draw attention to one 
side of the animal, take it for granted that there is something 
on the other side which is worth looking into. 



A Little 111 to Distract Attention from a Bx^ One. 

Often we have seen tricks such as the following practised 
in the "bull ring" at the stock-yards. A horse having a small 
spot or speck in its eye which does not implicate the pupil, is 
sold to "wind and work" (See Auction rule No. 3, page 50). 

The grooms and ringmen loudly draw the attention oL 
the audience to the condition of the eye, and repeatedly assert 
that it does not amount to anything. This is done on purpose 
to distract attention from some far more serious d-efect that 
otherwise would be noticed by the prospective buyer. Dr. 
Hawley says of this scheme, "The horse is kept constantly in 
motion with the whip. The auctioneer and salesman are always 
looking for an angel to drop in, and one usually does. The 
horse is ordinarily sold to the angel on his first bid." 



Beware of Hoof Dressin^f. 

When the hoofs of a sale horse are seen to be newly 
daubed with black hoof dressing, polish, or varnish, look out ! 
or rather, look in! for there may be vital need of the artificial 
coating to hide serious defects. The dressing, if wet, will soil 
the examiner's hands, hence he will be less likely to handle 
the feet and therefore fails to discover that a quarter crack or 
sand crack has been concealed, or the fact that the hoof has 
been rasped extensively for the removal of the rings and ridges 
that if exposed to the notice of the prospective buyer, would 
tell a plain story of chronic founder. 

The sound, healthy, waxy appearing hoof needs no coloring 
or dressing material, and when such things are freely used 
they are often applied to hide the marks of the rasp. 



HORSE SECRETS 53 

Buying a Pair. 

While a properly matched and trained pair of carriage 
horses should "act like one horse" when in motion, the buyer 
should be careful to examine each horse carefully "to halter." 
The two animals should be capable of being harnessed to the 
carriage indifferently to the right or left, and no attention 
should be paid to the observations of the dealer, who may 
explain how they have been accustomed to be driven always 
on the same side, and who, as a rule, will harness the better 
one of the two horses on the left side, and the poorer one on 
the right. The examiner naturally pays most attention to the 
left horse, but he should examine each in a thorough manner, 
for it often happens when this is done that one horse is found 
to be of far inferior quality and of less value than its mate, on 
the "nigh side." 

A " His(h English" Guaranty. 

A thrifty German truck farmer once called the writer to 
examine a newly bought work horse and to give him "a. line" 
so that he would be able to get his money back from the dealer, 
the animal having proved unsound. "I have me a written 
guaranty and a witness that he been all right," said he, "and 
now you help me oudt mit a line." An examination showed 
that the horse was terribly afflicted with heaves, accompanied 
with coughing and passing of gas. He heaved so hard that his 
entire body shook, and the squeaking of the breathing appara- 
tus was easily heard. Evidently the horse had been skilfully 
"shut" or doped by the seller, and now that the effects of the 
treatment had passed off the unsoundness showed up plainly. 
Asked for his "guaranty," the farmer kept iterating and 
reiterating his statement that it was all right and duly witnessed. 
At last he produced it, and it read to this effect, "This horse is 
hereby guaranteed free from all encumbrances." 

"Do you know what 'encumbrances' means?" he was asked, 
and the answer was, "No, I don't know such high English 
words, but I guess it means sound and all righdt in wint and 
limb, and to work, aind't it?" 

He got his "line," and by paying $80 to boot brought 
back another horse with a less comprehensive but more satis- 
factory guaranty. 

Moral: It is best to understand "high English" and the 
language and ways of the dealer when buying a horse at the 
yards, so that a written guaranty may really protect the buyer. 



54 HORSE SECRETS 

An Unsound Horse Sometimes a Good Bargain. 

Some kinds of unsoundness render a horse useless for work 
on the hard streets of the city, yet do not unfit him for work 
on the soft land of the farm. Where this is the case, it will 
often pay the farmer whose pocketbook is not particularly well 
filled to pass by the young, soft, untried, expensive horses that 
have been specially fattened to bring high prices and buy a 
second-handed horse at a bargain price. 

For example, suppose a big, strong gelding, getting along 
in years, has four well-developed side-bones which render 
him stilty and stifif in gait for city use, and which on that 
account is offered for $80, or thereabout. Such a horse may 
prove a profitable purchase for use on the land. Were he 
sound he would sell readily for $125 or over, for city work, 
and when bought at a discount of $45 he will very likely do 
more and better work on the farm than would a sound, young, 
fattened, inexperienced horse at the higher figure. 

In making this statement the writer has in mind more 
than one corroborative instance of the sort in practise. 

A Second-Hand Horse. 

The owner who wants to sell his horse on the market 
should not clip off the mane and forelock, and it is a mistake 
even to cut the latter or to bang the tail. The stock-yard 
buyers, having special market requirements to meet, prefer to 
do their own "toilet work" on the horses they buy, and will 
pass by an otherwise good horse if he has been trimmed in 
a manner to which they object. 

A horse that has had the mane and forelock clipped off is 
looked upon with suspicion on arrival at the market, and is 
likely to be termed "second-hand," meaning that he probably 
has been tried out in a fire department and found wanting. It 
is therefore disastrous policy to "roach" a horse before he has 
been thoroughly tested and found sound and suitable. 

Here is a case corroborative of this assertion: A fine 
gelding was bought for a fire department after a fairly thorough 
test for "wind." While being led a long distance behind a 
sulky from the country to the city the horse became fractious 
and broke away from the driver. On arrival in the city he was 
immediately taken to the engine-house and met with the 
unanimous approval of the fire laddies and chief. The next 
morning the mane and foretop were clipped off and the horse 
was then sent out for a practise run. At once he proved 
terribly nervous and a rank roarer when in motion, but 
perfectl}^ sound in wind the moment he stood at ease. 



HORSE SECRETS 55 

The commissioner who bought the horse at once took him 
back, refunded the purchase price, and sent him to the stock- 
yards. There he was instantly dubbed "second-handed"; ran up 
a bill of expense for his owner who could not find a buyer and 
finally contracted stock-yards distemper in virulent form. 
Eventually the animal was sold for less than half the purchase 
price and expense account, but not until the mane had grown 
in again sufficiently to disarm suspicion. Removing the mane 
or foretop will be certain to detract from the value of the 
horse in the market. 

"Protectinji" the Buyer. 

In some sales-stables, when a coachman commissioned by 
a rich layman to purchase a single horse, or match a pair in his 
behalf, has stated his needs, looked over a few animals, and 
hinted at what he can aflford to pay, he is asked by the dealer: 
"How much shall I protect you?" That means how much 
commission will you expect if the deal is consummated; and 
the coachman is not slow to ask a handsome rake-ofif. Another 
plan of making a profit, is to get as low a price or option as 
possible from the dealer, and then add a profit by having the 
seller charge a higher price than the option and afterward hand 
the balance to the buyer's agent. Unless the commissioner 
is paid a special fee by his employer for making the purchase, 
these methods of making living wages for the work involved 
in the deal are considered perfectly legitimate by men con- 
nected with the horse markets. 



Splitting the Profit Three Ways. 

In the great horse markets, when a gentleman's coachman, 
or a man who is deemed by him to be an expert judge, is 
commissioned to buy a certain style of horse at not over a 
stated price, the expert can easily arrange to make a double 
profit. He seeks out some scalper friend, and gives him a 
detailed description of the sort of horse wanted. The scalper 
then visits the stable of his associates in the business, selects a 
horse that "looks like the job" and secures an option on him 
at a price considerably lower than the buyer has said he will 
be willing to pay. He now brings in the expert, and if the 
horse suits that worthy, he is purchased at the option price 
and turned over to the employer of the expert at his specified 
price or a trifle less. Then the scalper and the expert divide the 
profit, or if another man "on the inside" has been used in the 
deal, the profit is "split three ways," to give him a slice. The 



56 HORSE SECRETS 

buyer is usually well satisfied with his bargain, and probably 
could not have bought the horse cheaper at first hand. 



A Glossary of Market Terms. 

In each of the great horse markets of the country certain 
technical, trade and slang terms are used in speaking of horses, 
and the intending buyer will do well to familiarize himself 
with them, else he may learn their meaning by dear-bought 
experience. In preparing the following glossary many of 
the terms explained are such as one hears in the Chicago 
market and elsewhere, and the writer has also freely quoted 
from an article entitled, "The Veterinary Horse Buyer," from 
the pen of Dr. H. W. Hawley, V. S., in the Chicago Veterinary 
College "Quarterly Bulletin" for June, 1903, and from Bulle- 
tin No. 122 of the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station, in 
which Prof. Rufus C. Obrecht deals elaborately and instruct- 
ively with the subject of "Market Classes and Grades of 
Horses and Mules." In many instances it has been thought 
well to explain technical matters relating to practical subjects 
as well as to interpret the special term used by horsemen. 

A Bull. — If a horse grunts when stood against a wall and 
threatened with a stick or whip, he is called a bull (or grunter) 
and by many is considered unsound in wind, or a roarer. The 
test is not conclusive, as not all roarers grunt and many sound 
horses grunt when so treated, or even when the rider places 
his foot in the stirrup. It is also used to describe a wind- 
broken horse that chokes at work. A heavey hors-e does not 
grunt when tested in the above mentioned manner. 

A Bull Heaver. — A bad choker. 

A Canard. — A bit windy. 

A Cold Collar.— Balky. 

Afraid of the Floor. — Has chorea, or St. Vitus' dance. 

A Gravel. — Suppurating corn. It is not due to gravel. 

A Little Careless. — Knees bent forward, or sprung. 

A Little Coarse or Full in the Hock. — Spavin. 

A Little Nappy. — A little balky, or a dummy. 

A Little Ouchey. — Founder, or navicular disease. 

A Little Strong in the Mouth. — A cribber. 

A Little Stamp On. — Branded. 

A Little Reading on Him. — Branded. 

A Little Rounding. — Curb. 

A Hole In. — There is "a hole in" a horse when he has 
some defect temporarily non-apparent. 

An Angel. — A greenhorn buyer who bids on an unsound 
horse. He usually gets him on his first bid. 



HORSE SECRETS 57 

At the Halter. — "Sold to halter," or "at the halter" means 
without guarantee of any kind. The horse likely will be wild, 
balky, unmanageable or so unsound as to be useless. 

Beefy Hocks. — Coarse, meaty hocks having too much 
connective and adipose tissue. The hock should be clean, 
hard, free from beefiness, puffs and bony growths. 

Bellows to Mend. — Wind-broken; heaves. 

Bench-Legged. — Knees bent toward one another. 

Blind-Spavin. — Occult or hidden spavin among bones 
composing hock joint. 

Blue Eye. — Eye showing a bluish or pearly cast, indicat- 
ing unsoundness and disease which may or may not have 
caused blindness. 

Bobber or Jig Back. — Weak loins causing bobbing or 
wobbling of the hind quarters. 

Boggy in Hocks. — Distension of the capsular ligament of 
the hock joint indicated by a large or small, soft, fluctuating, 
synovia-filled swelling at the front of joint. Such hocks 
appear dropsical. The condition constitutes bog-spavin, and 
by some is termed wind-puff or wind-gall. 

Bowed Tendon. — A thickened, bulging unsoundness of 
the back tendons (flexors). Caused by an injury. 

Broken Crest. — Coarse, thick, broken over crest under 
mane. Seen in stallions. Sometimes used to mean fistulous 
withers. 

Broken Down. — Fetlock bending too near ground, or 
tendency of toe to turn up as a result of injury to the tendons. 
Cause of acute lameness at time of accident. 

Broken Knees. — Scarred knees showing results of a fall. 
May be new or chronic. Especially objectionable in saddlers. 

Buck-Kneed. — Knees bent forward. 

Buck-Shinned. — Bulging profile of front of cannon bones. 

Bull Pen. — A horse auction sale ring. 

Burglar or Robber. — This is an expression used by "gyp" 
dealers to denote a good-looking horse with some slight defect 
which they can remedy temporarily. This horse is sold, the 
buyer discovers his defect in a short time and brings him 
back and trades him in or sells him at a reduced price. Such 
a horse is stock in trade and the "gyps" sell him over and over 
again, trade him in and make money on him every time. 

Calf-Kneed. — Opposite of buck-knees. Knees bent back- 
ward. 

Capped Hock. — New and sore, or old and painless, swell- 
ing or callous of the point of the hock joint; due to bruise. 

Careless. — A horse is "a little careless" when he stands 
with knees sprung. 



58 HORSE SECRETS 

Car Bruise. — Swellings, tumors, abscesses, on parts likely 
to have been bruised in shipping. Sometimes an excuse for 
such things not so caused. 

Cartilage. — A prominent lateral cartilage at quarter of 
foot. May or may not be a side-bone. 

Chest Founder. — Wasting or falling in of muscles of front 
of chest. 

Chestnut. — The horny projection found upon the lower 
inner aspect of the forearm and lower inner aspect of the 
hock joint. Considered a vestige of an additional hoof of the 
prehistoric horse. 

Clefty; Clifty. — Flat, clean, fine quality cannon bones. 

Coarse-Footed. — Having side-bones. 

Cocked Ankle. — Fore or hind ankles (fetlocks) bent for- 
ward. Common in young, overfed and under-exercised colts. 
When chronic, indicates shortening of flexor tendons and 
sometimes high ringbone, 

Cold-Footed. — "A little cold-footed" means stringhalt, 

Coon-Footed. — Long, sloping pasterns, throwing fetlocks 
low. 

Coupling. — The region of the lumbar vertebrae, loins, or 
space between last rib and hip. 

Cow-Hocked. — Standing like a cow with hocks together 
and toes turned out. 

Crampy. — Chorea, St. Vitus' dance, or slight stringhalt. 
The affected animal jerks up a hind leg on backing out of stall, 
and at the same time the tail elevates and quivers, and the 
muscles shiver. 

Crest Fallen, — Broken over crest under heavy mane. 
Often means fistulous withers. 

Cribber. — A horse that fixes his teeth or rests his chin on 
any object and then sucks wind. 

Crock. — Old, crippled horse. 

Cross-Firing. — Striking one fore foot with opposite hind 
foot when trotting. 

Curb. — A bulging enlargement at back of hind leg just 
below hock and resulting from an injury to the tendon and its 
sheath. 

Curby-Formed Hock. — An acutely bent or set hock giving 
a sickle appearance. Hind feet are thrown too far under body. 

Cushion. — A small puff toward front of outer side of hind 
cannon just below hock joint. 

Cutting, — Interfering or striking with feet on joints. 

Cut in the Wind. — "The least bit in the world" unsound in 
wind. 

Dead Spavin or Ringbone. — Lameness of spavin or ring- 



HORSE SECRETS 59 

bone subsided as a result of firing and blistering, or other 
treatment. 

Dimple. — Point of hips lightly deformed by accident con- 
stitutes a "little dimple," slightly hipped. 

Dizzy. — A dummy. 

Docked. — Having had part of tail amputated. 

Docked and Set Up. — By operation the tail is made to 
carry high, after being docked. 

Droop Croup. — Short, steep croup ; tail set low. 

Dropped Soles. — Bulging, or convexity of soles at points 
of frogs, due to descent of pedal bone in acute founder. 

Dummy. — Softening of the brain following sunstroke or 
heat exhaustion. Horse is dull, sleepy, stupid ; takes hay into 
the mouth and forgets to chew it ; and if the fore feet are placed 
crossing one another, they may be kept in that position 
indefinitely. 

Ergot. — The horny spur located at the back of the fetlock 
joint. The ergot is considered a vestige of an additional hoof 
of the prehistoric horse. 

Ewe-Neck. — Low crest with head held in straight line and 
marked depression in front of withers. 

Falls Out of Bed. — Pulls back on halter rope. 

Feet Sore from the Planks. — Has chorea ; a shiverer. 

Family Broke. — Takes the whole family to drive him. 

Feather in Eye. — Scar on eyeball, due to cut ; it does not 
necessarily impair vision. 

Filled Hocks. — Swelling of joints, indicating poor circula- 
tion, grossness. As a market term, it may mean bog-spavin 
and thoroughpin. 

Fistula. — Fistulous withers. An abscess with opening 
discharging pus from sinuses (pipes) connecting with diseased 
tissues of the withers. 

Fitty. — Has fits when hot. 

Fiat-Footed. — Low heels, dropped sole ; founder. 

Forging. — Noisily striking the fore shoe with toe of hind 
shoe when traveling. 

Founder. — Laminitis. Inflammation of the sensitive 
laminae of the foot, leading to lameness, dropped soles, rings 
and ridges in hoof wall and tendency to walk on heels. 

Freezer. — A palsied horse ; "hind feet froze to the floor." 

Glass-Eye. — Amaurosis or palsy of the sight in which, 
from paralysis of the optic nerve and retina, the eye is stone 
blind, yet bright, lustrous and prominent. The pupil is widely 
dilated and does not contract when exposed to brigh light. 
As a market term, may mean cataract, watch-eye, wall-eye, or 
that condition in which the iris is pearly white in color and not 
necessarily diseased. 



6o HORSE SECRETS 

Gill Flif^t. — Perineum between rectum and vagina lacer- 
ated at foaling so as to unite passages. 

Goosey. — A horse that is nervous in the stall. 

Goose Rump. — A short, steep croup and narrow at the 
point of the buttock. 

Go Down, or Kidney Faller. — Collapses in hind quarters 
when worked. 

Gristle. — ^A forming side-bone or enlargement of the lateral 
cartilage due to tread, bruise or wire cut. 

Guinea. — A Greek or Italian buyer. 

Hand. — Four inches. Width of the palm of the hand, 
used in measuring the height of a horse from the ground 
surface at the sole of the foot to the highest point of withers. 

Hand Stick. — Used for measuring the height of horse. 

Heaves; Heavey. — "Broken wind," or "emphysema of the 
lungs," characterized by coughing, passing of gas from the 
rectum, and double bellows-like the action of the abdominal 
muscles in breathing. 

Head Strong. — Halter puller in stall. 

High Blower. — Broken winded or may be soft from feed- 
ing and idleness. 

• Hillside. — Hipped. 

Hipped. — Point of hip-bone (ilium) fractured (knocked 
down), making that hip lower than the other when viewed 
from the rear, and not unusually a serious unsoundness. When 
distortion is great, the shaft of the ilium may have been 
fractured. The latter condition may render a mare unfit for 
breeding purposes. 

Hip Sweeny. — Wasting (atrophy) of the muscles of the 
hip. Often serious in mares, being associated with fracture of 
the pelvis, and unfitting them for breeding purposes. 

Hitch. — Stride of one hind leg too short. 

Hog-Back. — Arched or roached-back. The opposite of 
sway back or hollow back. 

Interfering. — Striking the fetlock or cannon with the 
opposite foot as it passes, either in front or behind, or it may 
be an "ankle knocker." 

Jack. — A small, round, bone-spavin. As a market term, 
often applied to a prominent spavin. 

Jibber. — A green, raw, unguidable horse. 

iKnee-Banger. — Knees interfere. 

Lady-Toed. — Cow-hocked horse. They are almost sure 
to hit their fetlocks, shins or knees. 

Legs Go. — See Market Rules No. 5. 

Light in the Timber. — Light boned below knees and 
hocks. 

Little Green. — Awkward, poorly broken ; may not pull. 



HORSE SECRETS 6l 

Lop Ear. — Ears dropping over. May be a dummy. 

Lugger. — Pulls or lugs on the bit. 

Lunker. — An exceptionally big, heavy-boned horse. 

Makes a Little Noise. — A slight roarer or whistler. 

Mallenders. — Scurfy or eczematous condition of skin back 
of knees. 

Mecatched. — Jewish term for a heavey hors€. 

Mechanical Choker. — A horse that roars when pulling a 
heavy load uphill, by getting the chin down to the chest, but 
is otherwise sound. 

Megrims. — Fits ; staggers ; sudden falling. 

Michigan Age. — Old. 

Michigan Pad. — See Cushion. A puff on forward edge of 
hind cannon just below hock. 

Moon-Blind; Moon-Eyed. — Eyes diseased or blind from 
periodic or recurrent ophthalmia. 

Mug. — A greenhorn or buyer from the country. 

Nicked. — Tail operated upon by severing the muscles to 
■'set up" or straighten it. 

Nickel's Worth of Hair Off.— Wire cut. 

Nigger-Heeled. — Front toes turned out; heels in. 

Old Skin or Skate. — Aged, decrepit, or worn-out horse. 

One Bum Lamp. — One eye blind, diseased or unsound. 

Outside Cushion. — Same as Cushion or Michigan Pad. 

Over-Reach. — Stride takes hind feet farther forward than 
the point at which the fore ones were picked up. 

Paddle. — "Winging" out with fore feet. 

Palsy. — Shiverer: chorea. 

Parrot Mouth. — Upper incisor (pincher) teeth protruding 
over lower incisors. Upper jaw longer and projecting over 
under jaw. 

Pig-Eye. — Small, retracted eyes. Characteristic of some 
horses of French breed. May indicate imperfect vision. 

Pigeon-Toed. — Front toes turned in. Opposite of nigger- 
heeled. , 

Pilgrim. — An old, worn-out horse. A good old "has been." 

Pin-Hipped. — Hipped from fracture of point of ilium. 

Pink-Eye. — Pinky, as a market term, applied to moon 
blindness. Correctly speaking, epizootic, cellulitis, or influenza, 
especially aftecting the membranes of the eyes. 

Plug. — An old, worn-out horse, or one of poor shape. 

Poll-Evil. — Swelling and abscess, similar to fistulous 
withers, affecting poll of head. 

Pones. — Lumps of fat on body of mule. 

Posting. — Rider rising and falling in saddle with each 
alternate step of horse when trotting. 

Puffs. — Soft swellings involving joints or tendons. Dis- 



62 HORSE SECRETS 

tensions of synovial bursal and capsular lig-aments. Thorough- 
pins, wind-galls, bog-spavin. 

Quarter Crack. — Fissure in wall of hoof running from hair 
toward sole at quarter. 

Quittor. — Enlargement of the hoof head (coronet) having 
one or more openings (pipes or sinuses) discharging pus and 
connecting with diseased cartilage or other tissues. 

Rat Tail. — Slim, almost hairless tail. 

Rejects. — Horses returned to seller on account of unsound- 
ness, or for other reasons. 

Rickety. — Horse affected with rickets (rachitis). Same as 
Bobber or Jig Back. 

Ridgeling. Original. — Cryptorchid. Testicles retained in 
abdomen or inguinal canal. 

Ringbone. — A bony growth (exostosis) affecting the long 
or short pastern bones and coffin bones. 

Ripper. — An unusually good, big horse. 

Roach Mane. — Mane cut' short. 

Roarer. — Horse makes a roaring noise when exhaling air, 
the condition being due to paralysis affecting the nerves and 
cartilages of larynx. (Laryngeal hemiplegia.) 

Sallenders. — Scurfy or eczematous condition of the skin 
in front of hock joint. 

Sand-Crack. — A fissure of the wall of the hoof at the toe. 

Scalper. — A horse dealer who handles cheap or question- 
able horses . He may have no regular stable or business head- 
quarters. 

Scalping. — Striking front of hind coronet, pastern or can- 
non against front toe when speeding. 

Seam in Foot. — Blemish, old scar, or healed crack in the 
hoof wall. 

Seedy-Toe. — Separation between wall and sensitive 
laminae of hoof at toe, the space being filled with white, dry, 
powdery horn; sometimes with pus; "toe clip" is a common 
cause. 

Serpentine. — A horse that extends and withdraws his 
tongue as a serpent. 

Serviceably Sound. — See No. 2, Auction Rules. The term 
is incorrect, as a horse is either sound or unsound. 

Shadow Jumper. — Nervous, skittish ; afraid of his own 
shadow. 

Shell-Bone. — Side-bone. 

Shipping Fever. — Influenza contracted on cars, or it may 
be acclimation fever. 

Shaky in Stall. — A shiverer. 

Shiverer. — Afflicted with chorea (St. Vitus' dance). 

Shoe Boil. — A serious abscess, or open pus discharging 



HORSE SECRETS 63 

sore or tumor of the point of the elbow. Caused by the horse 
bruising the elbow upon the floor, not necessarily upon the 
heel of a shoe, as commonly supposed. 

Short Leet. — The best horse ^elected by the judges from 
a number of competing animals in the show ring, and among 
which the prizes are distributed after further examination. 

Sickle Hock. — See curby-formed hock. 

Side-Bone. — A lateral cartilage of foot at quarter, turned 
to bone (ossified). 

Side Wheeler. — A pacer. 

Siffon. — Jewish horse-dealers' word (spelling in doubt) 
meaning to run in bids on a greenhorn to boost price of horse. 

Slab-Sided.— Flat-ribbed. 

Smokes His Pipe. — Lip torn where bridle bit rests. 

Smoky Eye. — "A little smoky." Eye cloudy, whitish, 
pearly in color, or opaque. 

Smooth Mouth. — Cups or marks w^orn off incisor teeth, 
indicating great age. 

Spavin. — Bony enlargement or exostosis upon lower, 
inner, front aspect of hock joint. 

Speck in Eye. — A small scar of spot, not on pupil, and as 
a rule, not impairing vision. 

Speedy Cutting. — Striking the inside of the hind cannon 
against the front foot as the hind is brought forward and 
passes the front foot on the outside in over-reaching when the 
horse is speeding. 

Splay-Footed. — "Nigger-heeled." 

Splint. — A bony growth on course of splint-bone on either 
side of cannon-bone below the knee. 

Split Hoof. — Quarter-crack. Sand-crack. 

Stag; Staggy. — Thick and coarse in throat-latch and crest 
from late castration. 

Stocked Legs. — "Filled" or dropsical, swollen legs below 
knees and hocks, the result of a lack of exercise or of sickness. 

Stringy; Stringhalt. — The hind leg is jerked up at each 
step in walking and trotting. See Cramp. 

Stifled. — Patella of stifle out of place. Any disease of the 
stifle-joint. 

Stump Sucker. — See Cribber. 

Sweeny. — Wasting, (atrophy) of the muscles of the 
shoulder. 

Switcher. — Tail switching, nervous mare, that may also 
throw urine. 

Talks to the Driver. — A roarer. 

Takes a Little Hold. — A cribber. 

Ten Minutes Short of Work. — Balky; 



64 HORSE SECRETS 

Tied in at Knees. — Light bone and tendons, making 
the part markedly constricted under knee. 

Thoroughpin. — A fluctuating, bursal distension which can 
be pushed from side to side under the large tendon just above 
the hock-joint. 

To Bush on Gristle. — To get a rebate on purchase price 
from a seller when a side-bone has been found after sale. 

Too Much Daylight Under Him. — A leggy horse. 

Tongue Loller. — Tongue hangs from mouth. May be 
paralyzed. 

Trephined. — A molar tooth removed by punching down- 
ward into mouth by means of an instrument inserted upon 
tooth root through an orifice cut (trephined) in bone of jaw. 

Trot Cut Short. — Short stride of fore legs. 

Wall-Eye. — See Glass-eye. 

Washy Coupled. — Long and loose in coupling and cut up 
flank. A poor keeper that tends to scour when warm or tired. 

Weaver. — A horse that sways and swings backward and 
forward in stall. The action is akin to that of a caged bear, 
and the habit is learned by imitation or in idleness. It may 
indicate a high-strung, nervous temperament and the tendency 
to it may possibly be transmitted by an affected sire or dam. 
It seems to arise from the restlessness and longing to escape 
from "prison life," or, in short, suggests the "call of the wild." 

Weed. — Has heaves. 

Wiggler. — See Bobber. 

Wind and Work. — See No. 3, Auction Rules. 

Wind-Galls. — Puffs or bursal distensions at the sides of 
the tendons at and above fetlock joints. 

Windy. — L"^nsound in wind, a whistler or roarer. 

Whistler. — A form of roaring in which there is a slight or 
pronounced whistling noise made in exhaling air. 

Winging. — Paddling or throwing the feet outward when 
in motion. 

Worker. — See No. 4, Auction Rules. 

Wears the Pants. — A pacer requiring hopples, or wearing 
them. 

W. W. — Short for "wind and work." 



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